nexus_crossings | Manhattan's Diamond King

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"It's alright, no one's watching you. Well, probably," Hiroki says.

It seems like this is what this man is worried about. Or maybe Hiroki's just projecting.

"You look a bit like someone I know. Hey. Welcome to Nexus. Not many people would watch you here, even if you are handsome."

No, that is exactly what Jack is worried about. His eye drifts back up to the eaves where he still expects to see cameras. However, there still aren't any that he can see.

"Who is that?" The comment about a look alike brings Jack's full attention to the person who had approached him. The smile spreads wide, charming and flattered. "You aren't hard on the eyes either."

"I don't think you've ever met, or I'm sure you'd remember. That person is Ziggy Stardust. My beloved. Heh, you'll recognise Ziggy if you ever meet."

Whatever power translates everything in Nexus, translates that, too, but beloved is said in another language. Altean, not that he'd know. So it might be differently accented.

Not hard on... if not Lucifer, the clone'd now think looking this gorgeous makes one a flirt, or something, as a rule. Ziggy, now this stranger...

"Thank you. A few months ago I'd've said nobody says that about me anymore."

"I've never heard of him." Jack is curious but he's missing a lot of memories, and a lot of people are just missing in his world in general; either dead or rewritten. "He must be tragically sexy if he looks like me."

Jack walks right up to him, touching all that long hair unless of course he pulls away. "I'm half blind and I can see it. You must've been surrounded by fools."

Jack definitely flirts a lot like Ziggy, in fact for Hiroki it probably seems even more alike since he has a lot of experience with Ziggy's brand of flirting.

Hiroki pulls away instantly, and opens his mouth to say something harsh, but then closes it, apparently thinking better of it.

Why does this man have to seem so similar to Ziggy? Somehow, he does not have that problem with the devil.

(Similar, because he looks similar. Duh.)

But that's just not it.

"I'm monogamous," Hiroki says, after an awkward tick or two of time. Or maybe just a few seconds. He speaks a bit harshly, but not as much as he would, perhaps, in another situation just like this. Quiznak. What was it, even??

"Besides, if you even try to seduce me, my aforementioned Princess shall be jealous. And then you should be afraid. Very afraid."

More relaxed now, he adds,

"Yes. My Princess is tragically sexy. That's just it. Wow. You could be a poet, whoever you are."

Edited 2020-09-28 10:32 (UTC)

Jack's hand falls away immediately when he sees the look. He didn't mean to offend or put this man on edge.

Jack opens his mouth to say he, given earlier pronouns but now princess? It takes him a second and a smile to come around. "They are lucky. There aren't many who appreciate people like us."

And by us, He meant people who weren't exactly male or female. His own world dealt with those kinds of people harshly and Jack found himself vaguely hoping that this other had an easier time.

Jack shrugs and looks away. "I don't know, maybe. I don't remember if I was or not."

"Ziggy says he's lucky to have me. He... she..."

Well, depending... and Hiroki feels he should ask Ziggy what to call him, someday.

"Ziggy's in the process of convincing me I'm a good partner, you could say. And-- nevermind."

He squints at the guy a little, wondering if he's going crazy, or if he's really much more similar to Ziggy than Lucifer.

"Truth is, anybody would appreciate a miracle. There's nothing to praise me for."

"You don't remember? Huh. Amnesia?"

"You worry about whether they're happy. That's got to count for something." Jack's serious too. Caring whether you were good was what made you good to others anyway.

"No." It's all Jack says at first whike the shakes ripple through the right side of his body, especially his fingers. A few moments pass before he adds. "Where I'm from people who don't fit what the Party thinks the people should be like they vaporize you... erase your memories and personality to give you one they like better. I escaped when they weren't done and I don't remember much of anything before that. I still have skills but I don't know when or how .. even why I learned them. I just don't know who I originally was anymore."

Don't know when or how...

Memories.

Way back when, Keith had asked Shiro, the real Shiro, what had happened to him, in the year after the Kerberos mission. Shiro said he wished he knew.

He really had wished he knew.

Which was funny, really, seeing as Hiroki remembered all the memories of Shiro, during that whole year.

One day, he'd've to tell Takashi how grateful he should be to his own mind for forgetting.

Forgetting all experiments, forgetting all of Zarkon and Honerva visits, and forgetting all the blood on Shiro's hands.

On the other hand, Shiro's done good, more than Hiroki'd be able too, probably, in that year.

Prisoners that Shiro helped stealthily escape.

Somebody else might've been punished for it, by death, but no, Shiro was a precious commodity, Honerva wanted him alive.

And so...

Someday, Hiroki wants to tell the Champion everything about the Champion. The good and the bad.

Unlike Hiroki, the Champion was a hero. He helped, whenever he could, whenever there was something he could do to help. Hiroki could never do that, being what he is, and he's long ago now decided, after knowing what he is, that he'll never even try, because of course some evil clone couldn't help anyone. So Hiroki, being what he is, won't even try to help people. Alright, he'll try to help people while in Atlas, he can do that... but outside Atlas? He can't help anyone, being what he is.. He's decided that, nowadays, absolutely.

Anyway. Shiro... the Champion...

Because the Champion was a hero, even if he doesn't remember that, yes, Hiroki knows Shiro doesn't remember that, almost none of that, anymore. The hero of people who no longer expected any hero, ever.

Shiro was always a hero, Hiroki could see that, now, as an observer of memories, and how frustrating it was, sometimes, to know that Shiro thought, especially when thinking of that year, that he, Shiro, was likely a bad person back then??!

When unlike Hiroki, he wasn't, at all!

That's why-

Memories.

Hiroki has an eidetic memory. And he doesn't forget anything he sees, ever. Unless he does. But when he does, that's Honerva's fault, or the fault of the damage done to his spirit.

Usually, he has eidetic memory. Unlike Shiro.

Funny, then, discovering the holes in his memories - well, ones he didn't know he had.

Funny, also, how precise the memories - yes, all of them... even if hidden... still photographic memory, and so, when a memory comes back, of a moment, that moment is --- relived-- in full--

that's why-

Hiroki smiles weakly and shakes his head.

"Who are you now?"

The familiar stranger seems so upset, and somehow fragile, Hiroki thinks, and seems in need, he thinks.

Hiroki asks, without thinking, "And is there anything I can do to help?"

By the way, Jack really looks and sounds like Ziggy. Really. Lucifer never sounded like Ziggy. Jack does. Huh. Surely a coincident, those happen in Nexus, sometimes.

Edited 2020-09-28 15:07 (UTC)

"Halloween Jack." He shrugs at the name. It was more or less given to him because he showed up in October with an eye patch. The name had grown on him though.

"For the memories? No, once they're gone there's no getting them back." He kicks at the ground a little with his right boot. "I've learned some thing over time. A lot of people think I don't get older and I've got a wierd jumble of skills. It's wierd when your memories are gone. I don't know I can do something until I try and then all the sudden it's like I've always known how to do it perfectly."

"I see."

"That'd be a weird experience. Not knowing you can do something, and then all of a sudden, you're doing it. I guess, I'm more experienced in the other way 'round. Remembering I can do something, and then, all of a sudden, nope, turns out I've never done it, and am, as some of my friends would say, a total noob."

"Heh, it's a long story, and you wouldn't find it riveting, I bet."

"I'm Hiroki Shirogane. Nice to meet you."

Offers a handshake.

"Someone altered your mind?" Jack questions cautiously because he knows with some people it is a touchy subject.

Jack takes the handshake smoothly. His hands, though calloused in slightly different places, have the same smooth, cool skin and delicate bone structure of Ziggy's hands. The feeling and touch uncannily similar

He ponders this for a moment. Well, yes, his mind was altered. Seeing as the witch transferred copied Shiro's memories into it.

"Well, yes." Hiroki whispers. "It's possible that I was a child when the alteration began. Not that I can ask anyone for confirmation, even the witch surely doesn't remember, as she doesn't care. I'm pretty sure I had never been outside a cryopod, before that. Everything was so new and strange. The air being dry was the strangest thing of all."

He shrugs a little, and gives a little smile. "Long story. I might tell you someday, if you're ever very, very bored."

He shakes Halloween Jack's hand, and that's when he can no longer deny the familiarity.

Who are you, really? he would've asked, only he doesn't, because Jack's already said he remembers nothing, and so, such a question would've been terribly unhelpful, and must stay inside.

Instead, he asks,

"Are you a human?"

Edited 2020-09-28 19:39 (UTC)

"I've heard stories like this from kids that were vaporized a second time when they were teenagers." And Jack's right side nervous tick came back full force.

How Hiroki is looking at him feels odd, too familiar for a stranger.it leaves him wondering just how much this Ziggy person is like him.

Confusion comes with that question. "I don't know... I guess so. I'd have to be."

"That's- I'm not sure exactly what you mean, Jack, but, thing is, I'm not-"

He shakes his head.

"Okay, I am a 100% human, but I'm not quite normal. I'm a clone. So, the idiosyncrasies in my earliest life - yep. You can can how they might arise."

"Let's just go to that bar. And it's all gonna be on me, no worries, Pri-"

Oh. What is he thinking? Apparently nothing much, or he'd be more focused and remember that Jack is not Ziggy!

But wait, could Jack be-- no. Ridiculous!

"No worries, Jack."

Edited 2020-10-02 16:41 (UTC)

"They rewrite a new personality in people." Jack says matter of fact. "If you do it too much the mind just ..I guess stops having a personality. It's what vaporization is putting new memories and personalities in people."

"If the Ministry had clones I wouldn't know if I was one." Jack sighs and the trembling is still obvious on his right side. "I don't remember anything before a few years ago."

Jack lights up a little at the idea of a drink. "Sure. I can get the drinks. I've got ways."

He garbs on to Hiroki's upper arm to encourage him to follow Jack to the nearest thing that looks like a bar.

Hiroki giggles lightly when Jack grabs him, and does follow him.

"No, Jack, I'm paying. You needn't sell your body or anything."

He's half serious.

Jack stops and looks at Hiroki a bit confused. "Isn't that why you want to take me out? To buy me for a time?"

Jack didn't really have friends. He had those who followed him and those who bought something from him, often his body or services. The insistence on being monogamous AND wanting to pay for his time out was really crossing Jack's wires too much. He couldn't follow this line of thinking very well.

Hiroki stops abruptly and glares at Jack.

"I'd rather die than touch you," the young man utters tersely. "I won't let you starve. Shut up and trust me."

Jack is startled by the first comment and Hiroki has the insight from Ziggy's behavior to read it. The clear feelings of rejection and depression, the sadness that hangs over Ziggy when he feels unwanted. Jack's reasons are different but the hurt that shows up is the same.

"Are you always this rude?" Jack finally snaps back when he is told to shut up. "I don't have whatever fucking idyllic life you have with this person who looks like me."

He takes a deep breath trying to calm but he's anything but calm. It's another moment Hiroki will know the behavior, this is the verge of a yelling tantrum. That he's said something that has upset Jack at his core. It's behavior so much like Ziggy. "I'm a prostitute. It's the only way I have to get food where I live. No one just gives you anything. I get fed by someone and then they use my body. I don't have the luxury for whatever you have."

Jack just turns away and there's a flicker of sadness and anger that rushes off of him. Jack can't use his empathic abilities, doesn't know he has them, but sometimes, when he's pushed into strong emotions they flicker to life briefly.

"I understand, by Voltron, you've made that quiznaking clear! But I won't touch you and I'll give you whatever you want. And yes, I'm always this quiznaking rude, and yes, my afterlife is utterly quiznaking idyllic, thank you for noticing, I cherish it with the short existence my spirit's got left before it disappears forever, thanks!"

"What? Am I too ruined and poisoned to be close to you like you're some ministry hound that is above someone like me?" Jack's face is crunched up from upset and feeling tossed away.

But that last comment hurts another part that Jack doesn't often talk about. He lashes out because he doesn't know what to do with his feelings. The empathic ability blossoming fullly awake, only he doesnt know he's transmitting anything. "At least you'll disappear and be free eventually. I'm just..." Jack sighs. "Since they tried to vaporize me I stopped aging. I'm trapped or something. I don't know "

Jack looks down, noticing that the other man hasn't pulled away. The confusion starts mingling with the hurt and depression swirling around him.

Abrupty, Hiroki leans closer and kisses Jack's forehead.

It's earnest, tender, and there's no desire in the gesture.

"I'm sorry, Jack," he says. "I shouldn't've reacted this way. My bad. And how could I be above you, ever? You're a person."

Jack doesn't know how to handle the extreme rejection and now the closeness, the kiss. He just starts shaking, especially the right side. He does know how to handle the words though.

"You don't understand. I'm not, not really. I don't know who I am, where I'm from, nothing. I don't even know what I can do or not."

Jack shrugs but he leans his forehead back into Hiroki's lips. It is comfortable, at least close to what he knows. The hand on Hiroki's arm is tightening but, like Ziggy, Jack isn't overly strong. "They never made me a new person. They only took the person I was."

"You are a person. You're Jack."

Hiroki doesn't back away. He welcomes the touch, but isn't doing anything.

"Shsh. I'll protect you, Jack. Please, lemme introduce you to Ziggy. Might help."

Hiroki sounds upset, but caring and resolved.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

it's weekend already for me, and I think I might be in a mood for a tag or two, heh

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject