nexus_crossings | The Post-Apocalyptic Doughnut Thief

Nothing in Antillioch is clean. Or tidy. Or not covered in a thick layer of desert. Which is why the appearance of a pristine white door that may well lead to some spiffed-up futuristic hospital ward is something of a shock to Zack. There follows a brief consultation with his brother, who doesn't seem to want anything to do with it, as it's so ..spotless, and white, and... ewww. For the two hellgods it's completely out of place and worse. They're so attuned to their hell dimension that anything this hygienic sits in the craw like a stuck fishbone.

Abe, casually examining his fingernails, suggests Zack tries the handle, just, you know, to see if it's locked. We don't want anything pleasant coming in. Stupidly, Zack's curiosity wins over and he does actually open the door a crack... Abe swiftly shoves him straight though it, and the Apocalyptic prince is sent sprawling. He literally faceplants into this new, uncomfortably pure environment.

He's ended up on the main plaza, and lifts his head, not liking anything he sees. But that's Zack all over. He doesn't like anything much. He even snarls at the few unfortunate people closest to him.

Nothing about the Nexus feels comfortable to Zack. Not until he smells something drifting across the plaza. He follows the scent until he comes to a doughnut stand.

Zack is the embodiment of the post-apocalyptic hellscape. He's on nodding terms with all four horsemen, and his own essence combines War, Famine, Pestilence and Death.. or more accurately the after-effects of such things. Away from his own dimension, he feels the hunger of famine, and Zack hasn't actually ingested anything for centuries.

Now he's in the realm of the living, these soft little dough things smell amazing.

He grabs one and tears into it, ignoring the stallholders protests about something like paying, or money, or something. When the stallholder tries to physically take his arm, Zack pulls away, swipes another of the sweet dough shapes, and wrenches himself away from the stand. Zack moves through the crowds away from the still-shouting stalholder, almost bumping into everyone - he's not used to crowds.

And he doesn't understand the concept of theft.

He almost sends some poor person tumbling as he tries to make his exit. But he can't find the infernal door and that stupid sweet-dough-thing person is still on his tail. Zack grabs the nearest passerby by the lapel, demanding... “What's his fucking problem? What the fuck's money? What does that even mean?”

[ooc: Cue argument between your muse, Zack, and the doughnut seller. Mun apologises for his language and behaviour. He's not housebroken yet...]

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Zack has indeed calmed down without even noticing. Nothing has panned out the way he expected it would, since Abe shoved him through that door. he says nothing as the bag of food is delivered, being suddenly deep in thought.

He's quiet as he nods and follows Ben to a seating area. Zack seems quite docile now, with the promise of food and a lot of Things to mull over. In fact he's silent for a while before looking at Ben directly.

"That was kindness wasn't it? Back there?"

"You're new here. I was passing through and thought I'd help."

Ben nods. Part of it is that he has a soft spot in his heart for scavengers, for reasons too complicated to explain here, but he also makes a conscious effort to do what's right, and he thought that helping both Zack and the shopkeeper was the right thing to do.

He rummages through the bag, taking two for himself and offering Zack the rest. "They're all yours." Zack must be very hungry in whatever world he came from, he thinks, and not used to people being generous to him.

“Huh. My moron of a brother shoved me through a door. I didn't have a choice.”

Zack is pretty much starving, but he takes a doughnut from the bag and manages not to snort it all down like a wild dog.

“Thank you,” he says quietly. “I've never actually witnessed kindness. It's a lot for someone like me to take in.”

"Your brother shoved you through?" Ben raises an eyebrow. "First I've heard that story."

Ben picks up his own doughnut, taking a sizable bite.

"You're welcome," he says with his mouth full. "I didn't see much of it either - but that just makes it more important."

"Abe's a dick. Calls it tough love, but I know he's just dipping a toe into a new environment. My toe."

Zack begins the next doughnut from the bag. "I've never seen anything good in mortals. Not before this." It's clear all Ben is getting out of it is someone to eat pastries with and to talk to. Zack finds it hard to get his head around.

"People in the Nexus are generous to strangers," Ben says after he swallows his doughnut. "They were kind to me when I first came here. So it's the least I can do to return the favor."

Ben wonders what kind of being Zack is - not human, if he talks about mortals like he isn't one.

"I don't know how to be kind." It seems worth saying, because one day Zack might be in Ben's place, and a newcomer will arrive, hungry - and Zack might not care.

Zack's open about what he is and will answer questions for anyone who asks. "I could leave. I will leave. Abe needs his arse kicked. But I might come back and watch what the people are like here."

It might be difficult. The entire Nexus makes his skin crawl.

Ben shrugs, not judging. "Neither did I. In some situations and places kindness is a luxury. What kind of world are you from, if I can ask?"

He's imagining somewhere that kindness is hard to come by.

"It sounds like you have something to do back home." Ben cracks a smile through another mouthful of doughnut. "If you've got any questions, ask for Ben Solo. I'll tell you what I know."

“It's a hell dimension. We absorb all the worlds that we destroy, or that destroy themselves. I don't think you could survive there, or I'd show you.” Regarding the mortal, Zack isn't surprised he didn't always know how to be kind. To him, humans are cold, uncaring, and greedy. He's more surprised that the man is in some way decent.

“I care about Abe, but sometimes he's unfair.” It's just the way things are, and Zack doesn't often complain.

Ben's grin is a touch infectious. Zack isn't big on smiling, but his eyes brighten for a moment. He's still working his way through the pastries as they talk. “Was it hard to be kind where you’re from?”

Edited 2021-05-28 18:22 (UTC)

Ben listens, interested. He's never heard of a hell dimension before - and he wonders whether he's speaking to a being like one of the fallen angels. Certainly the powers described seem familiar. He's heard of worlds where he likely wouldn't survive.

Ben eats his own pastry with leisure, but he's attentive.

"My home galaxy isn't one of the worse worlds to live in," Ben says, "but in my case it's a long story. I was angry and felt betrayed, and lashed out at everything around me because of it. I'm working on becoming better."

Abdiron and Aisaak are no fallen. They're what they've always been, the personification of different aspects of decay and destruction. But in some respects, Abdiron is Lucifer's counterpart, in his own hell dimension.

"I know anger and betrayal." It feels alien to recognise something in a mortal that is in himself. "They're all-consuming. I'm.... impressed that you've found the strength to change. That's humans though. They can change completely, become something better. Gods and spirits can only become more themselves. I envy you that."

Ben knows that those things are a constant across worlds, universal emotions. They're feelings he knows intimately.

"It wasn't without help, more than I deserved," says Ben. "But I feel better now than I ever did back then. No one has ever said they envy me before - but you're right that the ability to change is important, and not to be takenfor granted."

Nobody knows it, apart from Zack's brother, but Zack isn't what he's meant to be. Not quite. Only being separated from his hell dimension and some experience with mortals, will help him to discover this though.

"Why do people help?" he asks, starting on his fifth doughnut. "What's in it for them?"

Ben himself is still finishing his last doughnut, answering the question after a little thought. He's wondered the same thing.

"Sometimes people have been through hard times and know what it's like," Ben says. "Other times people have sympathy four people in a tight spot."

“Sympathy,” Zack repeats thoughtfully and turns the idea over in his head. He sort of grasps it. He feels betrayed on behalf of the planets that mortals rape and plunder, and eventually destroy. That's a kind of sympathy. Or empathy. He doesn't feel it for mortals though. They deserve everything they get.

It's quite a novel idea for him.

“I think people are a lot stranger than I realised.” He cocks his head and examines Ben sideways. “Doesn't make them not-dangerous though.”

Ben nods. "Not everything's good, including people, but there's still good - and as someone who's been on both sides and who's seen both I think hope is worth fighting for."

He's not naive - but he's less jaded than he acts, too. Rey's to thank for that.

"To be fair, dangerous isn't the same as bad. I'm dangerous - but I don't attack people here because I'm trying to change and I don't want to. I'm choosing to try and be good."

He cocks his head when Ben talks about dangerous and bad not being the same. Zack really hadn't thought of it that way before. He tends to think what Abe tells him to think. In fact if Abe knew Zack was talking to people and suddenly getting ideas of his own, he'd have a raging fit.

Zack can't help wondering what 'good' is. "So not hurting people's good? and fair payment's good. I know those things. What else is good?"

The Post-Apocalyptic Doughnut Thief

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