[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]

"Well, that's a relief," Matt says with a small grin. "I was worried maybe you were blue this whole time and nobody told me."

Though those 'subtle physiological differences' must be really subtle if Matt couldn't pick up on them. Might be able to tell more if he could touch him, but that seems way too forward even for Matt, so he isn't remotely about to suggest it.

"I'm not any less breakable than your typical human, but if you think you can hold back from breaking bones, maybe we could go a few rounds sometime?"

[fiveofnone]

Caspar can't help but be amused by the idea. "Blue's a great color on me. I would have let you known." Maybe in certain circumstances, Matt will be able to notice those differences. Not from touching, though, and thank goodness he doesn't even consider it enough for an emoji to appear, or Caspar wouldn't be nearly so relaxed.

"Yeah, I'd like that. I can modulate my blows." Although his tone is calm and casual, there's no way to hide the above his head. He's looking forward to it!

It's then that Adia arrives, finally taking Caspar up on his suggestion to witness the latest Nexus shenanigans for herself. She's dressed in her gardening clothes and smells of fresh earth and sunshine. "Hello, husband," she greets Caspar sweetly, a bit of playfulness in the way she addresses him.

Whatever the physiological signs are for love, Caspar is displaying all of them right now, blushing and grinning at both his wife's words and emojis. "Hey." He gives her a kiss, then nods his head towards Matt. "This is Matt. He's a lawyer."

Whoops. Crap. So much for keeping a secret. But Adia doesn't seem to notice, too busy giggling at the heart-related emojis that are like a permanent fixture over Caspar's head. She turns towards Matt and smiles. "Hi, Matt. Nice to meet you." "Sorry it has to be during a LOL, but it's not so bad, all things considered."

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

Matt grins in Caspar's direction, a little amused at how much the Cylon is keeping himself in check compared to the incredibly unsubtle announcements that he's hearing of the other man's inner thoughts. "I'm game. Let me know when you're free, and we'll work something out."

He probably hears (and smells) Adia before she arrives, though Matt can't be certain she's the wife in question until he starts hearing hearts being read out again, and he doesn't quite cover his smile with his hand. Definitely can't cover the emojis over his head, even if he could detect where they are.

"Nice to meet you too," he says, amusement coloring his voice, though he doesn't offer a hand for shaking. She sounds like she's occupied with her husband for the moment, anyway, and Matt doesn't mind that one bit. "It could be way worse," he agrees, and the symbols above his head agree.

[fiveofnone]

"You got it."

Still waters run deep, or something like that. Though Caspar does not hide his affection for his wife. He wraps an arm around her, wishing Matt wasn't blind because then he could see just how wonderful she is.

"Oh... yes, the winter storm." Matt was caught in that? "Oh, that's terrible! I'm so sorry." She looks up at her emojis and blushes with embarrassment. Was that patronizing of her to think that he couldn't handle himself because of his blindness? "Ah, I mean, that'd be terrible for anyone. That was terrible for everyone."

Caspar gives her a reassuring squeeze. He's fairly certain that's not something anyone would take offense to, especially not Matt, who doesn't need to be worried about in the first place. "We already talked about that. He's fine. He comes here willingly now, so he's as masochistic as we are."

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

Even a blind man can see how much Caspar adores his wife. Ah, newlyweds.

Matt has had years to get used to the sorts of well-meaning missteps people make around blind people, so he doesn't mind Adia's little snafu much at all. "It's not something I'd like to do again," he agrees mildly, with a small disarming smile on his face. Caspar's comment gets a laugh out of him though. "At least some of that's the Catholicism," he jokes lightly. "Besides, it seems pretty unlikely that it'll repeat itself now that the season's turned. New York has some pretty brutal snowstorms sometimes, but nothing like that."

[fiveofnone]

She still feels a little awkward about it, although Caspar's joke and the laughter that follows go a long way to putting her at ease. Besides, it's nice to see Caspar getting along with someone new. Is Matt going to be a new friend? She hopes so!

The joke about Catholicism is a complete miss for Caspar, who doesn't react at all, although Adia gets it after a moment's thought. The emoji symbol helps a great deal in that instance. "No, but, um..." She pauses, fidgeting with hem of her shirt. "Well, you never know what's going to happen here. The Nexus is very unpredictable."

"You're right about the snow," Caspar interjects. "Your New York probably doesn't have a vindictive winter spirit." No love lost there, apparently.

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

"Not that I'm aware of." And Thank God for that, truly.

"Unpredictability doesn't bother me, as long as I can still get home," he adds, because after last winter, he's not taking that for granted either. "Though it'd be nice if things would stay where I remember them. Makes it a little easier to get around."

Though thinking of that... Caspar was on a quest of utmost importance, wasn't he? "Last time I checked, there was a Starbucks around here, or something along those lines."

[fiveofnone]

That's good to know. Although Matt's world is home to other magical nonsense. That's okay, he doesn't have to go there to see Matt's sweet stick-fighting moves.

"Yes, that's right," Adia agrees. "Although the more people visit a place, the more likely it is to stay put."

Like, for example, certain coffee shops. Caspar wrinkles his nose at the mention of Starbucks. "Starbucks is fine if there are literally no other options. I have a couple of favorites." He looks at Adia. "I was going to bring a cup back to you, but I got distracted. You want to come with?"

Adia giggles. "Sure. We can get it to go and I can show you the work I did in the garden."

Eh heh heh. Caspar grins in anticipation of all those smooches. "Sounds like a plan. Nice talking to you, Matt. Good luck getting any work done."

"It was nice meeting you," Adia chimes in. She and Caspar head off, little heart emojis streaming off behind them until they're out of text-to-speech range.