working out complications

[coffee_elf]

People who have met and are familiar with Rondo are relatively few and far between in the Nexus. He appears here and there, and occasionally introduces himself, but for the most part he’s been an observer. It helps that he’s small and quiet; his ability to be overlooked is almost supernatural. Those who have met him, though, may notice that he looks slightly different today. He’s colored his hair, for one thing. The soft brown is full of streaks of plum-purple and there are a couple tiny braids decorating the back of his neck, each with a pair of little jewels stuck in the end, like the eyes of a dangling snake.

His clothing is mostly black, too, where he normally wears earthtones and green. Otherwise he seems the same, though, seated on a bench outside the library, surrounded by books but scrolling through his tablet screen. Rondo is obviously not human, significantly under five feet tall, with an elongated face and pointed ears dotted with chains and earrings. He looks young, though. A student, maybe? The large cup of coffee at his knee makes that idea plausible.

“Um…” he’s hesitant to speak publicly in this place. There are so many humans, and other species he doesn’t even know anything about. But he does have a couple questions. “So, uh, for people who come and go from this place, assuming you can’t just openly announce to your neighbors and friends that you have a gateway to a multidimensional realm—how do you keep it a secret? How strictly do you separate Nexus stuff from home stuff? Are you worried about cross-contamination?”

“And—I’m kind of thinking about renting a room here. Because I keep finding books I want, and things I’d like to have access to, but can’t take home. Tech, instruments, even food and clothes. I’d only need, like, a studio, I guess? Anyone looking for a very part-time tenant? Or roommate?”

Comments

[chiaro_oscuro]

"I can't go back to my world, so cross-contamination there is frankly not an issue for me. I only had one object brought over so far...and that's because I have someone special to me who wanted physical evidence that I was alive and real here. I thought a small gift would help her. As for other worlds, I travel light and keep technology unique to my universe under close watch."

But Ben's attention is more focused on the second question. Art is something he is interested in. While he's a mechanic, he does sketches when he's in the mood. It's a simple reapplication of his skill with calligraphy. Art's one of the calming hobbies he's taken on in his spare time to help himself relax.

"You're welcome to stay in the apartment complex where I live. It's easy to adjust there, isn't too crowded, and you'll have room for your supplies." Ben elaborates a little more. "I'm an artist, too. Well, it's more of a hobby for me. Sometimes I go to the Wilds to sketch landscapes or animals, and sell the better ones in the Plaza." It's not a job, exactly, but it's a way to supplement his income.

[coffee_elf]

If he hadn't met Felix at his and Kirk's wedding party, Rondo might have trouble being polite here, in the face of someone who is to all outward appearances human, but with an unmistakable aura of elemental power. Magical humans are a terrifying concept to him and his kind, and his ears flatten a little at Ben's approach, but he schools himself quickly enough. It helps that Ben is so soft-spoken at the moment.

He nods slowly at his first answer, thinking it over. "I think my perspective must be out of step with most people here. I'm just now realizing how xenophobic my planet is. The idea of bringing something home that's not properly vetted is...scary."

The first couple times he came and went here, he felt horribly guilty about it, too.

"Oh, I'm not actually an artist--well, not in the traditional sense. I suppose there is a kind of art to magic, especially at higher levels, but I'm still a student. Honestly, what I really want is an aquarium and some pet fish. We don't even have fish on my planet."

"Art is cool, though! Can I see some of your drawings sometime?"

[chiaro_oscuro]

"You're trying to learn and grow past that attitude - that's a very good thing. If it helps you feel better, there are people here in the Nexus far more xenophobic than you and who aren't trying to learn. So you're doing well."

Ben is used to being disliked. There are plenty of valid reasons to dislike or distrust him personally that don't involve xenophobia, but the idea of being hated for what he is rather than what he's done feels strange. As if it's responding to his presence correctly but for the wrong reasons. He's still not used to people being nice to him. It doesn't feel earned.

"My reasons are a little different. The universe I came from is on the higher end of the technology scale, so I want to be careful about outsiders having access to weapons from my world. Not messing with things too much, if you follow."

A little cross-pollination between universes is inevitable, but that's no reason to be careless and leave things lying around.

"Yes, you can. I live in the downtown area. I'll give you my address if you'd like to see what I can do one of these days, or you can find me in the Plaza on weekends."

[ziggyplayedguitar]

Ziggy had been spending a lot of time in the Nexus recently. He was off tour and only writing music, which he often disappeared while doing anyway. His parents, and several people he's interested in, are here and he's found this place conducive to writing. The bizarre energy and wide range of beings was helpful. Far better was the lack of stress about being killed or found out and tortured.

Thanks to the influence of a certain human, Ziggy has oscillated to the more feminine end of his wardrobe. He's in a feminine silk top and plain yellow slacks, complete with chandelier earrings and platform sandals. He's tall, thin, elfin in features himself. Despite looking like a human at a glance, a closer inspection can see the proportions are a little off; fingers and limbs longer.. and his movements lighter and more graceful.

The questions though stop him. They are too close to home, to real to his daily life. He shrugs at the much shorter humanoid. "I've got to hide at home because they aren't ready for me. This place'd blow their minds and probably cause them to be violent."

"My rooms will be empty once I move to a lower level. As long as you don't mind the tenth floor." Ziggy felt queasy just thinking about it and then embarrassed for how he had to navigate the elevators in front of someone he was flirting with. His emotions are loud to anyone who can sense them, to anyone really for their intensity, but he generally has a peaceful aura despite his general high energy and constantly fluctuating emotions.

[coffee_elf]

Ziggy looks pretty human to Rondo at first glance, but he's been teaching himself to pay better attention and school his initial responses to people. He looks him over thoughtfully, noting subtle physical details--and the body language is the clearest tell of all, even before he speaks.

"I'm not so much worried about that kind of thing. I mean, lack of acceptance. Magic is a huge part of my planet's culture and dimensional rifts are part of my school's curriculum. But we have a Council and some other, um, political bodies, that monitor energy flux and such. I guess I'm scared I'm going to get myself in big trouble coming here."

Pause. "Well, obviously I'm not scared enough to stop coming, but you get what I mean."

There would be Consequences, and they would definitely end any career he hoped to have, at best.

"Oh, I don't mind heights, as long as there's some climate control. I'm only on floor 3 in the dorms and the heat rises right up to the top all summmer, it's annoying. Is it expensive? I need to make sure my parents don't ask where my allowance is going--oh, you can sit if you want? I'll make space."

Sensing an empath is actually not something Rondo is accustomed to. His specialty is mind magic, but because he is still a student, he hasn't quite picked up on Ziggy's emotions yet. His own mind has some light, semi-permanent shielding on it, which might make it harder to perceive his emotions, except that his face and body language are broadcasting them. He's nervous and friendly as a puppy, hence the tumble of words that come from his mouth as he moves books aside to make room for Ziggy to sit.

[ziggyplayedguitar]

"Why would you get in trouble?" Ziggy asks but he can imagine all kinds of reasons. The thought of his own world and adding inter-dimensional traveler to the alien would surely make their behavior worse. Make him more of a target for the government and whomever else.

When this tiny person asks about cost Ziggy's brows furrow in confusion. He didn't ask, never asked. It takes time to remember that it mattered to others. He shrugs. "I've paid for six months but the elevators here are.... horrible."

Claustrophobic, jerky, loud, too fast. He had a list of the problems with the inferior elevators here, but a first floor townhouse had opened up near where he had been staying. No stairs and no elevators. It was ideal. He's lost in his thoughts for too long and nearly startles himself out of them.

"I dislike heat. I don't know how much it costs. I didn't ask my retainer when he found it." Ziggy shrugs. Money had gotten to the point where Ziggy didn't think about it, or worry about it, and though he probably should care... had no idea how much he was spending. He does take the offered seat. Even if the circumstances seem different any insight into hiding your doings is of interest. This wasn't just about his alien nature but also his desire for general privacy.

[silverseamariner]

"If you want a word with the Captain, you know where my chambers are." The creature approaching Rondo is very large. She sticks out with her fluffy blue feathers and sharp red eyes, not even getting into her fancy sailor's clothes. Captain skekSa is about to hail who she thinks is one of her off-duty Sifa until she has a better look at the stranger and realizes her mistake.

Oops. It's not the first time she's encountered a creature that could be mistaken for a gelfling, but she's seasoned enough here that the mistake is embarrassing. She quickly tries to cover for her mistake.

"Apologies, lad, I mistook you for a gelfling for a moment, though you are a wee bit on the big side for one." Up close, this being is clearly not a Gelfling. "Now, as for your question - I make sure that information about this place stays between myself, the Sifan maudra, and a select crew. It wouldn't do for certain people to learn about the Nexus at all. We make sure the wares we smuggle from other worlds stay under a tight lock, and we limit what we bring back with us to things that we can explain if we have to."

By "certain people", she means Emperor skekSo and the other Court Skeksis, even though she thinks they wouldn't receive a friendly greeting if they came. While on average Nexus denizens are a naive lot, by her assessment, the other Thra denizens and the angels know about their true nature.

[coffee_elf]

The look that registers on Rondo's face might be damned entertaining to an outside observer. Because he has no idea who she is, the reference to her chambers makes him think he's being hit on rather aggressively which is...well, it's not necessarily a bad thing, actually, but unexpected and weird for sure. He has, of course, never seen a skeksis before, but he's seen other alien species from a distance that are, if not the same physical structure, more or less the same colors and size, so at least he's not terrified. Just bewildered.

"Um." He says, articulately.

And then she explains, and he's...intrigued. A species that looks like elves but smaller? This bears investigation. He straightens up a little and listens attentively to her answer, nodding. "The, uh, government where I'm from might not be happy with a student like me being here. I don't want to put anyone back home in danger, but I know if I tell anyone they'll make me stop coming here."

[silverseamariner]

"Ah." skekSa shakes her head. "I thought you were one of my crew at the tavern off work. My apologies." Not that she was necessarily above flirting with Gelflings - the only other female-identifying Skeksis is skekLach the Collector, and the Mariner has some standards about her partners. Time was not kind to the Collector and she is a sour sort anyway. But she doesn't flirt with random people, and not as aggressively as she was taken for - at least not right off the bat.

She sits down, bringing her height closer to his.

Once settled, skekSa leans in, as if sharing a secret with him. "You know, lad, I'm here in secret, too. Honestly, I might just lay down the anchor and stay here permanently. It'll be easier that way. No more Castle politics, no Emperor breathing on my neck. If you think your government's bad, don't go to Thra and certainly don't visit the Castle of the Crystal. You'll hate it."

[fiveofnone]

To the untrained eye, Caspar looks like any other human in the Nexus. Perhaps (at least in his opinion), one of the better dressed ones, in a crisp linen suit. He's heading past the library, not planning to pop in, but Rondo's question -- the first one, anyway -- captures his attention.

"It's not as hard as you'd think, keeping the Nexus a secret. If you're vague enough about certain items you bring back with you, other people will fill in the gaps with how they already assume the world works. Trust me, that very rarely includes a gateway to a multidimensional realm."

The idea of cross-contamination does give him pause. "My wife and I have a couple of animals from worlds that aren't ours. She checked them for a few potential diseases, but honestly? We're all walking germ factories. I'm not too worried about it."

[coffee_elf]

Rondo's eye is quite untrained, and he's a little wary of humans. His ears are subtly mobile, not quite to the degree a fox or cat's would be, but similar, and they dip down slightly at Caspar's first approach, though his facial expression is neutral otherwise.

He nods slowly, tapping his fingers on the side of his cup. "I guess. I mean, I wouldn't be worried if it were just my family. I could bring people to visit from here if that's all it was. There's a mage's council, though, and the Grand High Wizard, and cross-dimensional items are harder to hide from people with that kind of power."

He perks up a little at the second comment. "I think you're right about that, actually. If I were going to bring bacteria from here, it would have happened already, just with the gateway existing. I'm less worried about that than, uh...getting caught."

Now that he's phrased it that way, he looks extremely sheepish.

[fiveofnone]

Caspar wrinkles his nose at the mention of magical higher-ups. If his ears could move, they'd be dipping down, too. "That's a problem," he agrees reluctantly. "There's no magic where I'm from, but I suppose if I brought some fancy tech to my world, I'd get a lot of unwanted attention, too."

Despite the way that Caspar grimaces over talk of magic, he's quick to dismiss Rondo's sheepish expression. "No, that's a valid concern. My wife and I are lucky, we've got a cabin on a private plot of land, no one's about to start poking around in there. That's not a bad idea to have a place to stay here part-time. I gotta warn you, though, things around here get crazy real fast. You could get cut off from your world, or bring something back with you worse than a bad cold."

[neverseenhimbefore]

Not familiar at all. But posing an interesting question, one to consider, definitely.

"I'm trying to investigate how much Quintessence can be found in Nexus."

"It's a form of energy," Lotor adds, as explanation might be necessary.

"Still, when I do go back to my Empire, I see no reason at all to share the secret of Nexus. I wouldn't want to see this place overrun or disturbed, after all. It's such a pleasing place to spend time in, since, apparently, one does not need to worry about time passing outside, and can go just back into the moment one left. If Nexus became public knowledge, many warlords would try to conquer it. So, you see, it should stay secret."

Very pleasing place, and this out of time passage thing. Such a thing let him get engaged recently, and he's still in high emotions from that occasion.

[coffee_elf]

Judging from Rondo's expression, he's never heard of Quintessence, but he might be kind of curious. "Do you mean like a kind of fuel, or something more like radiation? How do you detect it?"

That's off topic from his original question, but Rondo is a little bit distractable, and he's never seen a person that looks quite like Lotor. He's human-sized but clearly not human, not with those ears and that skin tone.

"Oh...my planet wouldn't want to come in and conquer. I'm not worried about that. That's not our way, we're practically isolationists. I'm more concerned with something from here sneaking through to my world."

Lotor's never heard of elves, so of course he thinks Rondo might be Altean... (space elves)

[neverseenhimbefore]

"It's energy, inside all living matter. Perhaps even some non-living. I've been studying it."

Lotor listens to him. While wondering if the other man might be partly Altean.

"Why'd you isolate yourself? Is your army too weak, perhaps, in your world, to defend it in case other planets engage?"

[joblin]

Peter doesn't immediately see the elf. An even five feet tall and used to living in a human heavy city, he's not in the habit of looking down.

"Oh! I don't go home. This is a good place to rent, but then I work here now, so..." he shrugs.

"This place isn't exactly a secret, but I don't think anyone's taken it over yet. Some people tried but no one did it. Could be a good sign."

[coffee_elf]

"You live here?" Rondo is immediately comfortable with this stranger, who is roughly his size and looks roughly his age--or whatever the equivalent is between their species. He moves his coffee cup out of the way in case the other person wants to sit, nodding attentively. "What kind of place do you work?"

"Okay, but do people from here ever go to other worlds to cause trouble? Or...even for peaceful purposes, like to trade? Sometimes things go wrong."

[joblin]

"Sure." He's pegged Rondo as "unusually small elf." Elves in his world aren't known for being very sociable, but somehow seeing an "elf" reminds him of home.

He notices the coffee cup movement and hesitates a second before sitting down.

"I'm a software developer with the place that makes those" a nod towards Rondo's phone. "I'm working on a new app right now."

He frowns, thinking about the question. "I never thought about it. I guess I thought most worlds could take care of themselves. Surely someone couldn't take a whole army through, but they could smuggle a bomb..." And that's about as far into disturbing territory as he's willing to think.
"There was actually a multiverse salesman who came here a while ago. Guy was a sentient duck. Really nice guy, but the stuff he had for sale was kind of crap."

[dennis_murdoc]

Dennis can't help being a bit amused.

"It's not that hard. I mean, my parents know, so they don't worry, when I'm gone, sure," Dennis concedes. "But, you'd have to be pretty clumsy to get caught, if you're worried. Don't just disappear suddenly in public and make sure you can explain or hide anything you bring back."

[coffee_elf]

Have a skeptical look, Dennis. "My parents don't know, and I plan on keeping it that way, but that's not the hard part. I could get eaten by a cloud of harrakhim and it'd take them a month to notice."

He shakes his head. "We have magic, where I come from, and a Council that monitors energy fluctuations. I don't know why no one but me has noticed my gate, yet."

[dennis_murdoc]

"You need to get adopted by parents who don't suck," Dennis says, shaking his head. "Some people just shouldn't have kids at all."

He considers that.

"Okay, I can see that being a problem, yeesh. Big brother is watching and all that. So, you gotta hide the energy fluctuations, either by concealing them or disguising them as something the Council won't care about, yeah?"

[smartass_captain]

It hasn't been quite so long that a certain space fairing human would have forgotten the voice nor the sight of his infrequent study partner. Jim, of course, would like to call Rondo a friend. He's well aware after discussions with the Arraka'aran though that things aren't quite that simple where the two of them are concerned. They can't be. But the bronze lantern Rondo's gifted them is hung up at the entrance to Jim's farmhouse back on Earth. Their text logs to each other sporadic but full of a shared intrigue and interest for the unknown.

It's more than a start, one that Jim is grateful for.

He waves when he catches sight of Rondo before crossing the bustling walkway to meet up with the other.

"Rondo, hey!" The questions he'll get to in a moment. "It's been a while. New Look? It suits."

[coffee_elf]

"Jim!" In contrast to the way he's looked uncertain when other humans approach, Rondo perks up visibly when he spots Kirk. For all that there's a lingering tension in his interactions with any human or human-appearing person, Rondo has been more or less won over where Jim is concerned. There are topics they probably shouldn't broach, certainly not lightly, but he's happy to see him, and that's not complicated.

"How've you been? And your husband?" He smiles. "Oh, this? It's for Veth's Night. My school goes a little crazy for holidays. The parties started last Wednesday and everyone's going to be hungover until next Wednesday."

"I guess you don't celebrate that...it's supposed to be when the Rock Serpent, Phrakha'an, and his followers come up from the ground to celebrate and, uh, interact with living people. The old stories say the smallest veth-snakes can creep into your ears or up your nose and possess you, if you sleep through it. It's pretty wild."

[adregem]

"It's actually the opposite for me," Roland chimes in, hand resting on his hip. "Dimensional travel and the nature of dimensional activity is a well-known scientific discipline in Evermore and its neighboring countries. We have Dimensional Labs, though they're into research of a different endeavor."

He offers a kind smile, though it is unfortunate that Roland will be unable to completely sympathize with him. "I didn't have to keep the Nexus a secret at all. I've brought in a couple of friends from the Nexus into our door as tourists, too. I'm pretty sure I've offered to take Evan in here too, if things continue to remain stable."

He shakes his head. "Sorry. Maybe that wasn't what you wanted to hear. Wish I had better advice for you."

[coffee_elf]

"We study that, too," Rondo says with an uncertain smile. "But not quite so hands-on, if you get what I mean. Plus, it's a high-level study, and I'm only a student. I'd never be invited to get involved in this kind of work until after graduation at least, preferably a full apprenticeship."

And he'd probably have to know someone who knows someone. He shakes his head. "Aren't you worried at all about bringing something into your dimension that doesn't belong there? Bacteria and diseases? Animals that would wreck your ecosystem? Everyone seems so trusting of this place."