nexus_crossings | Manhattan's Diamond King

Jack had been wandering the streets on a night watch with Diamond. The people of the Party and their Ministry of Truth goons were getting bold. It made Jack antsy and he wasn’t sleeping. It was weird sometimes how he went days and weeks here and there without sleeping. No one knew how he could do it.

The scenery had changed oddly when he turned a corner, Diamond at his side whining. He reached down and patted the white mutt that went with him everywhere. Straightening, Halloween Jack shifted the automatic weapon slung over one shoulder that stood in stark contrast to his feminine clothing including spike heeled black boots and gaudy diamond bracelets and earrings. He came very close to shooting the hologram when it startled him by appearing on his blind side. He’d seen something like this before but couldn’t remember where. He listened to it all the while wondering why the guy was in the weird get up. It looked enough like a military uniform to make him suspicious of the Nexus.

Walking on he kept looking up at the building corners, the trees, anywhere something could be hung. Though the gun was back in a resting position, he remained jumpy and jittery.. one part drugs and one part nerves. Diamond was watching the people coming out into the plaza. Normal morning traffic of shops opening.

Jack narrowed his eye at the people and eventually asks. “There aren’t any cameras or drones here?”

He is confused as hell about what is going on. The dog sat at his feet, looking up expectantly at her one eyes master. In the back of his mind there is a lingering worry that this is some Party trap or that he had been caught again and this was something in his own mind.

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Ah. Furiosa is no kind of psychologist or physician, but she knows trauma when she sees it, because she sees a lot of it. It doesn't take much of a mental leap for her to imagine what exactly he might be worried about.

"This is the Nexus," she says, keeping her voice calm and casual. "Whoever's watching you at home, they're definitely not in charge here, and there's a pretty good chance they don't even know this place exists, and never will."

"What's your dog's name? She's cute."

He had been so caught up in the paranoia about being somewhere he might be on camera that he hadn't considered the idea that he came here from his own territory. The very beginnings of a charming smile appear.

"They're not. They would have killed most of these people." It was simply his reality that people were killed for no reason. However, her comment about how he got here sets his mind at ease. They were well within his territory when he stepped into this place. The Ministry wouldn't dare wander that far in.

"Diamond." He pats her and she instantly stands to go and see Furiosa. The dog has a diamond studded leather collar and appears to be some sort of greyhound or greyhound mix. Diamond is obviously well trained and very friendly, probably younger given her energy.

"Good to know." There's mild amusement in her voice, rather than fear. "If anyone shows up and tries to kill me off, they'll be sorry."

Anti-violence field or no, Furiosa has proven herself tricky to eliminate. She softens up and smiles for the dog, though, leaning down a little and holding out her hand, but waiting for the animal to come to her and sniff at her own pace. Once it becomes clear she's friendly, Furiosa happily settles into scratching behind her ears. "Hey, sweetheart," she almost coos. "You look like a runner. Were you born to run?"

"I'm Furiosa," she tells the man with a little nod. "If you have questions, I can try to answer."

"We all think that until we run into some of their tactics." He's not being disparaging of her strength but he's simply seen way too much from the Ministries. It was why he constantly walked around armed. "They're goal isn't to kill."

Diamond just starts rubbing and rolling herself against Furiosa, long tail whipping hard against her body in excitement. Jack trusts his dog's judgement and this warms him slightly to someone who is a stranger.

"Halloween Jack." He smiles and shifts the gun on his shoulder to a relaxed position. He's slowly coming down from feeling nervous. "Do people just live here?"

Jack had grasped the idea that the people he was seeing were not from the same world.

She raises an eyebrow, but her goal here isn't to argue about how tough she is, so she opts to simply take him at his word. "Well, for what it's worth, it's very difficult to commit violence in this area of the place. Not impossible, but difficult."

She laughs softly at the dog's excitement, and sinks to one knee to be in better range for petting. She's not terribly experienced with animals when it comes down to it, but it's not hard to love a friendly dog. "Uh-huh. I bet I smell like the camels or the granary cats, hm? Yes, we can be friends, Diamond."

"Some people live here. There are apartment buildings and houses, and hotels. I only visit, mostly for trade, though I have a few friends around."

He visibly relaxes with the commentary on the lack of violence. That was a first in the time he could remember. All he can do is smile at the excitement of his dog. He loved her. She might be the only thing he really cared about.

"You live in the desert?" Jack registered camels as being an unusual form of transportation. His people used horses sometimes but not camels.

"We could do with trading. Food will get scarce in a few months." He offers the words but his eyes are on the shops.

"The world I come from is mostly desert," she explains. "A Wasteland. Used to be Earth, but fallout killed a lot of it. We're working to bring back what we can."

She glances up from Diamond and nods. "What have you got to trade? If we can make a deal, I'm willing, or I can point you to some of my contacts. Mostly I come in for fabric, medical supplies, specialized tools and technology."

"We live in a wasteland that used to be New York City. It was renamed Hunger City years ago, I don't remember when, but it's because they started starving everyone." Jack imagines fallout means nuclear warfare which seems even worse than what he's endured.

"Clothing is something we can trade. We also make drugs that can be used for medicine." Jack contemplates and then shrugs. "We can steal most things when we need them. Food and weapons are usually what we need most but manpower too. A lot of the people who come are young or parents bring their children to us."

"New York," she murmurs thoughtfully. "That's one of the bigger cities that used to exist in my world. Long way from us, though. We're in what used to be Australia. Close to the western shore of it, from what we can gather."

"You have a lot of kids?" She looks thoughtful. "We just established our second school."

"We have some food reserves we could spare, too, and I think our Greenthumbs might jump at the chance to help somewhere else establish some farms. Rooftop gardens, maybe, since you're in a city?"

"I've seen a globe once or twice since my mind was wiped, but I don't remember much about Australia except for the weird animals and the big desert in the middle." Jack had never thought of not remembering what the Earth looked like, a map of the landmasses. Now it seemed there was another hole he should do his best to fill.

"There are 300 or more of us, about half are under 16." Jack smiles deviously. "I'm manage to convince the powers that be that we are a dangerous lot of adults."

"Tell us what you need and we can scavenge." Jack thought about the city and goes thoughtful. "Some of the buildings have winter gardens or the skyscrapers could be turned into them. Roof top might be seen and set to fire."

Manhattan's Diamond King

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