nexus_crossings | The Post-Apocalyptic Doughnut Thief

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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“Yeah! A bunch of worlds coming together!” He nodded encouragingly.

The book metaphor threw him for a second, but this place was really hard to explain. Isamu even struggled with it at first - it sounded too fantastical in a lot of ways. (Good luck trying to rent a moving truck to drive across dimensions.)

“The Nexus is... kind of... I guess it’s like a hallway with a LOT of different doors to a lot of different rooms. You can’t go in another room without first going through the hallway.”

For the first time since he got here, Zack looks pleased. He gets it.

Zack saw a book, once. Abe read a passage from it and explained what it was. Zack's not allowed books, which doesn't bother him because he's illiterate.

“That makes more sense. There’s more though. I mean.. I can sense worlds and places, and wherever you are, there's always some decay, some entropy. It's the was of the cosmos. it feels...managed here. Almost synthetic.”

He looks around at their environment. “Does it have its own power, this whole place?”

An expression of relief from the being frantically stealing donuts only a few minutes ago was a good thing in Minoru’s book. It was definitely enough to make him smile again.

Unfortunately, as far as the rest went...

“I have no idea what makes it go.” He just shrugged. “I don’t even know what makes a planet go. That’s... you know, I don’t even know if Isamu knows. And I swear he knows everything about everything.”

It wasn’t donuts. He was pretty sure about that. Though they were really, really tasty.

“It's okay,” Zack shrugs. He doesn't understand a lot of things himself. He can hardly hold it against the mortal man.

The sweet pastries do help though, and Zack takes another.

“You know how money works, and that seems important here. How do I get some?”

Minoru offered the bag freely. Zack is welcome to take what he needs from it.

“Well, I guess you could say that people trade money for things they need done too. I work at the hospital over that way.” He pointed out the far end of the plaza. “I help move patients, make beds, clean rooms, whatever needs to get done. And they give me money for it. Which I can later trade for what I need.”

Which was a slightly better way of saying that having a job is like being a donut. Services were just as tradable as anything else.

“If you’re planning on sticking around here for a while, you can probably find somebody who’s looking for help around a store or something, and is willing to pay you for it.” He wasn’t entirely sure what Zack did in Antillioch, but from the earlier description... “Not so sure anyone would want to buy quakes or diseases or anything like that, though... and if they do, they probably shouldn’t have them.”

Strangely, Zack might actually grasp that having a job is like being a sweet pastry.

“A store,” he repeats, into being entire sure what that is, having only seen a baked goods stand so far. But he's sure some further inspection of this place will tell him a lot more. And he probably won't even need to ask too many dumb questions.

None of Zack's skills are transferable, alas; but he does agree that he wouldn't be willing to sell some of what he can do.

“I don't know. I'm gonna try to get home first, but maybe someone will want my kind of help.” He can fetch and carry for people, if nothing else.

“Oh!” Suddenly, Minoru’s face lit up. “I know what you need!”

He jumped up, reaching into the pocket on his scrub pants and pulling out a device that would be instantly recognizable among most of the residents here (or anyone from a similar technologically advantaged world). Zack, though, if he didn’t know what stores were probably wasn’t going to know what it was.

“A PINpoint!” Minoru grinned. “This is what Isamu and I use to get back home! Or to other worlds.”

There were only so many doors, it seemed. The PINpoint never put them right in their parents’ backyard. But it did put them in the right regional area. Which was a lot closer than the door they originally came in through - though that was always an option.

“This should help you find your door!!”

The device is a whole new thing to Zack. He reaches out to poke at it, careful not to break it.

"You use this little box to travel?" Now he is confused. "Do I need money to get one?"

What neither of them know, is that the Nexus doesn't seem to want to let him leave. He'll be going back to an aeons-long abusive relationship with an evil hellgod brother, so something in the power here wants to cut Zack off, give him a chance. Still. They'll find out.

It was a durable model, so it was not going to break easily. Minoru figured that part out by trial and error, thanks to some of his many parkour stunts. It also meant that he knew exactly where to go to get a new one at literally any hour.

With absolutely no idea that his plan is doomed to fail right from the start, Minoru held out his hand. “Grab the donuts and come on! It’s easy! There’s a vending machine that sells them!”

A pause, and a reassurance - “this one’s on me too.”

All the same, Zack doesn't try to grab it out of Minoru's hand. The human may be odd, but Zack realises he doesn't particularly want to upset him. Strange. He's never felt that way about a mortal before. Ever.

“Maybe I can pay you back one day?” If he gets a job and all.

Obediently, Zack picks up the bag and follows Minoru.

“Thanks! That’d be cool.” Minoru accepted the promise and IOU, but wasn’t overly concerned about it. He’d broken enough PINpoints to know that the devices were surprisingly cheap - especially considering everything they could do.

He led Zack toward one of the vending machines near the center of the plaza. And in true Minoru style, that likely involved hopping up onto a wall or railing just to walk across it. Or grabbing a tree branch overhead just to swing from it. He had quite the spring in his step. He just couldn’t help it most of the time!

“You can get them to look like a lot of things. Mine doubles as my phone.” It was a popular choice among his coworkers. “But they’ve got watches, pendants, things that look like they match a lot of different worlds.”

For a few minutes, Zack forgets everything as he watches the way Minoru likes to 'walk' from A to B. The human is certainly healthy and very fluid in the way he moves. Zack even wonders if he could learn tricks like that... Although he is agile and often does have to pull himself over things, or leap around when exploring the wrecked buildings and ruins of Antillioch.

“Why do you do that?” He asks, without judgement. Nobody else seems to be hopping over things or walking along things. “It's never been entertainment for me, at home... but you make it look...” He doesn’t know how to say it. Like he wants to do it too.

Zack considers what Minoru tells him about these PINpoint things. What would fit best in Antillioch? Something his brother wouldn't notice? “Do they have scruffy ones? Ones that wouldn't stand out if someone saw me with it?” He makes a gesture to incicate his clothing,

The calm way he shrugged and asked, “do what?” made it pretty obvious how natural it really was. He jumped off the railing and back onto the ground facing Zack.

“Oh!” He laughed. “I guess sometimes, I just can’t help it. The body’s just meant to move, you know?”

He meant that, wholeheartedly. He was an athlete and a traceur. This was his idea of fun, and it just made him feel good to be up and about. Mostly up. (Plus, with the American Ninja Warrior finals coming up back on his home world, a little extra practice wasn’t going to hurt!)

“I’ve seen at least one that looked like a dingy old pocket watch. Hopefully the machine will have something you like.”

"It is what bodies are made for," Zack has to agree, and looks at his hand, flexing his fingers. He wonders if it has anything to do with Minoru's cheerful disposition. All that movement.

"Does it make you happy?" he asks, meaning will it make people (like him) in general happy, if they bounce about a bit.

With the information on the PINpoint, Zack nods, satisfied. He'll pick something that looks like an old bit of tech. He often carries those about, just because he likes them or wants to see how they're made. Abe won't look twice, he hopes.

“Yeah!” Minoru smiled. “They are. And it does!”

Freerunning made Minoru extremely happy. Though, he was a bit of a thrill-seeker for sure. Not very good at judging risk (or caring about it, really), given that today’s after-work activities apparently consisted of keeping the peace and buying a Hell-Being a whole bag of donuts.

He hopped on a bench, ran along it and then hopped back down.

“If you want to do it too, go ahead. This is the most parkour-friendly place I have ever lived!”

The concept of 'happy' is an odd one for Zack. At times, he's okay with the cosmos, but he can't say he's ever really experienced happiness. It's very mortal emotion.

So... maybe mortals can help him with some of that. Then he can speak to them better, mix with them. Maybe. And maybe they're not all the destructive vermin he's always considered them to be.

"Go on then. I'll follow you, if I can." And he does, hopping onto the bench and walking along it. He's supernaturally agile, but the Nexus is messing with his powers so he may find he falls over more than he should. "Is that what this is called? Par-kour?"

Minoru smiled back. “I mean, if you’re being technical, what I do is more freerunning than parkour. But, eh, it’s all fun!”

Parkour was more efficient, focusing more on clearing obstacles than on the body’s ability to move. (The latter was definitely Minoru’s primary motivation.) Both arts had a lot of the same techniques, but any fancy acrobatic tricks belonged to the freerunner. As in, why take time to hop on the next bench just to run along the back of it and jump to the next table, when you could just quickly and easily vault completely over it?

The plaza, filled with chairs, tables, trees, walls, half-walls, railings, a fountain, etc., made for a delightful obstacle course. And Minoru was more than happy to lead his newest friend through it. Flips, tricks and the like were definitely encouraged!

Such subtleties will be lost on Zack for the present. But it's interesting to watch the mortal move, and just when he thinks Minoru is going to have a nasty accident ... the human doesn't.

Well. Anything a mortal can do, he's sure he can copy. Or do better. "All right. Go. I'll do what you do."

He's completely unfamiliar with the concept of pride coming before a fall.

“Okay! Let’s go!” Minoru grinned.

After a brief look at his surroundings, he started running toward the wall that marked the end of that side of the plaza. It was one of the taller walls, perfect for climbing - or in this case, scampering. He had more than enough momentum to run up the wall, easily grabbing the top with his hands and hoisting himself up.

He ran along that for a little bit, before dropping back down. So as not to make too complicated of a jump for his newfound friend, he landed low, on both hands and feet, before tucking and rolling out of it. Safety first.

Zack sets off after Minoru, the wall-scamper is something he's done before, only more slowly, so it's easy enough. His balance isn't too bad either. None of his supernatural gifts are specifically super-strength or acrobatics, but he's wiry, sure, and strong.

When it comes to dropping back down, Zack attempts to roll as well. His loose shabby clothing, however, can get in the way some. He misjudges and ends up flat on his back, frowning up at the sky.

“I meant to do that,” he growls, sitting up and tucking in one of the flaps on his pants.

As Minoru watched him follow, the grin never left his face.

“You’re pretty good!” He shouted back as he bounced from rock to rock as though he were taking a trip across a reimagined Snake Run. (It was a favorite obstacle in American Ninja Warrior, and Minoru wouldn’t be surprised if he tackled it in the first round of the Finals again this year.) “You do this back where you come from?”

He tried to both remember it and pronounce it, but having only heard it once, he likely butchered it a little.

He bounded up and over a picnic table, and then took the wall at an angle, running along it in an arc.

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The Post-Apocalyptic Doughnut Thief

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