nexus_crossings | Mother always told me to never give away a story for free

"Honestly, all this bare chest and he hits home right in the fabric..."

Did the demonic looking purple stranger look at all put out by the new locale? Not really, they'd been given a pamphlet that was currently tucked into their belt to be reviewed later. Their attention more focused on the bloody hole in their rather ostentatious coat, lips quirking on a frown as they fingered the damaged fabric lightly, tail twitching behind them in a clear hint of their annoyance.

Really, they're looking rather calm for someone that bloody. When they hear someone coming near they glance up with a jingle of jewelry both in skin and decorating their curved horns, red eyes brightening as their mouth spreads to a cheerfully hopeful smile.

"Well then!" They straighten, something of a showmanship in the shift from grumpy contemplation to sunny disposition but at the same time that shift didn't seem dishonest either. "Hello there darling, please tell me there's some manner of tailor to be found here? As you can likely see I'm in dire need of one."

Clearly this was some manner of weird afterlife, but Mollymauk would be dipped in Fuck No if anyone expected them to wander around with their coat in tatters.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Minoru heard the question, and turned around, light on his feet as always. The cheerful smile was inviting and naturally invited one from Minoru as well.

“I’m sorry. I don’t.” He shook his head sympathetically, getting a good look at the reason why the stranger would need one. Something made that hole, and judging from the blood... “More important question, though - are you okay?!”

He was on his way to work, so he was dressed in the usual scrubs. But he had his workout bag draped over one shoulder, and in it, a change of clothes he could offer if necessary.

"A shame, I'll have to go wander and find one. Surely there's at least one or two hiding in a place like this," There was a lot of blood. A whole hell of a lot, and while Molly had wiped his mouth on the back of his hand there were still dried streaks near his mouth, from his nose, and a dried track down the neck from his right ear that he'd missed entirely. Clearly it hadn't been an easy time of things. "As okay as I can be post-skewering in a strange little corner of the multiverse."

Molly would appreciate the offer. He truly would but at the same time as picky as he was about his clothing, the tiefling would rather just stroll off naked if necessary. Not that it was, he still had that ridiculous tapestry in his bag. Long may he reign indeed.

Minoru dropped his bag for a second. “I have extra clothes with me if you need them. Not sure how well they’d fit. The shirt, probably. The pants... I mean, I don’t have a tail... but cleaning your wounds is way more important than mending your coat!”

From first glance, it was hard to know what was fresh, what was healing, what powers this individual may have had to speed things up. He just saw that there was blood, and lots of it. And surviving a skewering did not sound pleasant at all.

"Oh I've got spare clothes in my pack, no worries about that," Molly waved off the offer lightly with a soft chuckle. "The wounds will keep for a bit longer, they're already looking miles better than they were mere moments before I showed up in this lovely little 'burb."

Skewerings weren't pleasant in general. Especially the ones a person didn't survive as Molly was now uniquely qualified to have an opinion on.

"If you know of a spa around where I can wash up maybe with a cleric or healer on staff though that would be perfect."

“It’s not a spa, but I work with the healers, I guess you could say.” Minoru shrugged. “They can clean and bandage your wounds there, definitely. Make sure nothing got infected.”

He was on his way to work anyway, so it would be no trouble at all to bring the tiefling along with him.

“I’m Minoru, by the way.”

Molly couldn't help the woeful sigh at that, but seemed to relent. "Fine... I suppose that I can track down a spa after I come along to the healers."

Really, what self-respecting city didn't boast a luxury spa with healers on staff?

"Minoru. Lovely, absolutely marvelous to meet you. I'm Mollymauk, Molly to my friends." A smile and a little half-bow. "Shall we then? I'll follow you."

“Likewise.” He bowed in return, a formal greeting on his lips.

Unfortunately, despite having come from a culture that appreciated cleanliness and public bathing, Minoru really wasn’t one for spas. If the Nexus had a spa, he never bothered to learn where it was.

“What happened to you?” He inquired as they started walking. “If you don’t mind my asking.”

Molly would just have to go investigate the options himself, clearly. If there was a spa here, he'd find it!

As it was he just let his hands drop into his coat pockets, strolling along with Minoru casually as if he wasn't wandering after with a hole in his chest.

"Oh a glaive. Very nasty business, not an experience I'd recommend for a fine upstanding citizen like yourself."

“A glaive?” Minoru was no warrior. But a brief description would have him answering back with its (slightly) more familiar Japanese equivalent. “Oh, a naginata? Where you came from... Were you in the middle of a war?”

"Well there was a war going on but not so much battles at that point so much as the potential for them. A tense stalemate as it were. But no, not that. Was fighting a pack of slavers and unfortunately as you can tell, one of them decided I make a rather good pincushion." Molly shrugged lightly, tail curling lazily behind him.

“Slavers?” He raised an eyebrow.

That didn’t sound much better than a battlefield, considering the injuries. Honestly, Minoru was a lucky one. He’d never lived in a part of his world where those kind of threats were common. The closest he’d come to anything like that was visiting Jack and his family in Hunger City.

“Well, you certainly don’t have to worry about those here! I’m glad you were able to get away.” He glanced down at the hole in Molly’s clothes. “How bad did they get you?”

"Aye. Nasty bunch, can't very well leave them around to go snatching people up."

Molly didn't like slavers. Didn't like people doing things like that, deciding that other people were lesser than hurting them and trying to make them property.

"Oh that s̆ͧ́͆̍҉͎͚o͒̒͞҉̪̞͙̮n̹̳̰̝͖̮͑͆̀ͤ̕͜ ̗̣̜͖͇̀ͬ̂̆̔̎̒͌͋͜͡ò̸͍̞̥̪͈̹̏̅̈͛ͦ̓͡f̏́̊̏҉̫͓̰͖ ͔̹̞̝͌͗ͭ̊a̝̺̤̐̍̑͋͂ͯͣ̚͢͝ ̵̱̱̟̇̇̍͗ͯ̇͌ͦ͠b̷̷̻̥̙ͯͨ̌̽̅̿͢į̷̠̣̓̏ͥt̩̙̠͉̗̑ͭ̇͞c̡̪̋͘͜h̺̳͍̦̙̺ͪ͋̇ͥ͆ͅ killed me, sorry to say." The insult wasn't in English- and it was an insult from the curl of Molly's mouth as he said it. It was in another language entirely that sounded harsh, guttural and demonic to the point that the sound of it almost made a person's nose pick up on the sharp acrid scent of sulphur, to taste it on the tip of their tongue. "The others'll take care of him at least."

The odd look on Minoru’s face combined revulsion with confusion. “What do you mean they killed... this isn’t the afterlife. It’s a weird place with people from all kinds of different dimensions, but we’re all alive here.”

He was sure of that. At least he thought he was sure of that...

"Well I'm pretty sure taking a glaive to the chest, it coming out the back and being twisted isn't conducive to life." Molly mused. "And even if it was, there was no way he was leaving me alive to crawl away."

Sorry Minoru but facts are facts!

Minoru’s jaw dropped. Having worked in one hospital or another for the past five years or so, he knew fully well that such an injury really wasn’t conducive to life. That was obvious.

But Molly was also here, on his feet, walking and talking like he’d simply had a bad day. These were also facts. And maybe Isamu could make sense of the two conflicting sets of observable evidence, but Isamu was down at the IRIS. He wasn’t here.

“Okay... Yeah... but this isn’t the afterlife.” He stuttered. “Nobody else is dead... I don’t think? Like, my brother and I packed up a moving van and literally drove here. And we can go back whenever we want. We’ve done it... a few times...”

Mother always told me to never give away a story for free

Hope I’m not too late for this party

The party is Eternal

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