moratorium_mai: (Huh?/Worried)
Mai Kashiwagi ([personal profile] moratorium_mai) wrote in [community profile] nexus_crossings2016-08-24 07:26 pm

(no subject)

"This isn't... the way to the video store."

Mai couldn't begin to guess why the way ahead looked so different. What happened? She had been minding her own business, looking for something to do until it would be time to go to school.

What really weirded and creeped her out was the fact that the familiar buildings, sidewalks, and streets weren't present. I can't be dreaming this up. I don't have dreams like this! What in the world was going on? Was she still in Tokyo?!

There was no way all those office buildings and skyscrapers could change so fast! It just wasn't physically possible. It didn't make sense!

Mai was on the move as she was failing to make sense of this. She felt slightly relieved to see someone nearby. Slightly, for if this person turned out to be somebody who would harm her, she would run for it.

Forget the video store. She wanted to go home. "Excuse me! Could you please help? How far is Shinjuku East from here?" Mai couldn't remember feeling so uneasy and on the verge of freaking out.
chiron_survivor: (Default)

[personal profile] chiron_survivor 2016-08-25 12:47 am (UTC)(link)
A young woman in drab, dusty clothing looks up from a worn paperback and frowns worriedly. The poor girl must be lost. "Sorry, I don't know," she says quietly. She's never even heard of Shinjuku, but that's not relevant, if this is the girl's first time in the Nexus. "Do you remember how you got here?"
chiron_survivor: (thoughtful but hopeful)

[personal profile] chiron_survivor 2016-08-25 01:46 am (UTC)(link)
"We're in the Nexus," Adia answers. "Or... a Nexus, anyway. A lot of different realities intersect here. You might have accidentally walked through a portal and ended up here." She looks around uneasily. "Like a public telephone? I haven't seen one. I'm sorry." Would a telephone even work here? Anything's possible, but...

"Look, um. Just so you know. You aren't going crazy. Or dreaming. I thought that the first time I ended up here, too. I got back to where I was supposed to be soon enough." She tries to smile reassuringly. Not that she much wanted to go back home, personally, but this girl clearly does. Or at least not be lost anymore.





chiron_survivor: (woobie eyes)

[personal profile] chiron_survivor 2016-08-25 02:54 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't have a phone on me," Adia says in that same apologetic tone. Oh, this poor girl. When Adia had first stumbled into the Nexus, she had been looking for an escape. Even now, when she visits, it's to get a break from the troubles of her own world. She can't imagine what it's like to feel trapped in the Nexus...

...but she knows how it feels to be trapped, period. "Here... sit down for a minute." She makes room on the stone bench, setting her book in her lap. "I'm here now, but I can travel back and forth from here and where I normally live. The portals I've seen here don't usually leave people stuck, but it doesn't happen immediately."
chiron_survivor: (woobie eyes)

[personal profile] chiron_survivor 2016-08-25 01:26 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh... no, there is internet. On a computer terminal, at least." There must be one around here somewhere. Adia always managed to find one when she needed to.

Her eyes widened sympathetically at Mai's tears. Briefly, she thought about offering Mai a tissue, but she didn't have one, and it'd probably be just as dusty as her clothes if she did. "It'll be okay," she said again, as if that could somehow make everything better.

"I was never stuck... I mean, once I tried to leave the Nexus, I was able to go home the way I came. But..." Hesitantly, she pulls out of her pocket a futuristic-looking stopwatch and shows it to Mai. "I got one of these. It's called a PINpoint, and it lets me teleport. There was a vending machine that gave them out for free..." She frowns uneasily. "But... I don't think this is the same place I used to visit. Or the same area of the Nexus. They might not have them anymore."

((I used to play Adia ages ago in a LJ community called dear_multiverse that had PINpoints as part of its setting. It's up to you if you want Mai to have access to that same technology or for this Nexus to be different enough that she needs to find another way home. ))
chiron_survivor: (you're kidding right?)

[personal profile] chiron_survivor 2016-08-26 12:31 am (UTC)(link)
"Someone who frequented the Nexus made them," Adia answers. It doesn't make much sense to her either. Her world is far from a utopia where advanced technology is distributed for free. "She was a philanthropist, I guess."

She doesn't offer Mai to hold it, but she holds it out a little so the girl can get a better look at it. "Do you see the little number buttons here? You enter the coordinates of where you live, and then any time you want to return there, you press this other button. You can enter multiple locations. There was another machine that could tell you the coordinates of your world... I really don't know how that worked at all."
chiron_survivor: (thoughtful but hopeful)

[personal profile] chiron_survivor 2016-08-26 01:37 am (UTC)(link)
Adia shakes her head. "I spoke with someone who had met her." She turns the PINpoint over in her hands. "She must have been a genius, to invent something like this..."

"Oh! Yes... sorry, I should have told you my name sooner." Adia mentally chastises herself for flubbing a simple social convention. "I'm Adia Costas. I'm sorry you had to find the Nexus this way, Mai. It really is a nice place, once you take the time to explore it."

She doubts that the coordinate numbers are as simple as latitude and longitude, but she's not about to crush Mai's hopes, especially not that the girl has seemed to calm down. "I don't know about a map store, but you could probably look up a map online. I have seen currency exchange booths, though." Not that she's had the pleasure of using one.

"Is... Is Japan a place on Earth?" she asks timidly.
chiron_survivor: (reporting for duty)

[personal profile] chiron_survivor 2016-08-26 12:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Adia relaxes a little, relieved to know that Mai thinks of her as nice. "The Nexus was there for me when things have been at their worst at home. I'd hate for it to feel like a prison to anyone."

She looks around the Plaza until she catches sight of a busier area full of shops and buildings. "Over that way, I think... or one of the shopkeepers can tell you at least." She tries to sound confident... this isn't the Nexus she remembers, and though it has many of the same features, she can't be 100% sure.

"No, I'm not," Adia answers with a faint smile. She hasn't had to give this explanation in a while, and it makes her a bit nostalgic. "Earth is a myth where I'm from. I was originally from a planet named Leonis, one of the twelve colonies." She blinks at Mai. "You said you needed a map of Japan? I've never heard of that place before."
monochrome_mind: ([6] let her do the talking)

[personal profile] monochrome_mind 2016-08-26 01:56 am (UTC)(link)
[Normally, the words and conversations of Nexus-goers falls on Sasha' deaf ears. He's either engaged in another activity or just doesn't care about the idle babbling of other people. Questions, however, always get a second opinion, as someone might have an interesting thing to discuss. Something about the girl's voice catches his attention, and he stops near her, holding what appears to be a bag of coffee beans in one hand. The Nexus has better selections of drinks than his own home-world.]

"Ah, you're referring to the ward located in Tokyo, correct? Unfortunately, you've stumbled into the Nexus, a multidimensional hub where people meet." [He's not one to beat around the bush, that's for sure.] "Many other variants of Tokyo reside here but can only be found completely by chance. High risk, high reward, so to speak."
monochrome_mind: ([5] something's amiss)

[personal profile] monochrome_mind 2016-08-26 03:20 am (UTC)(link)
[And almost immediately after seeing Mai's reaction change, he's already realizing how poor his word choice was. Yes, scaring the new person by being blunt and honest is probably not the best thing to do. He's already rubbing his forehead with one free hand, trying to think his way out of this scenario.]

"It's...complicated. Even I don't know how or why it happens, but people sometimes find themselves here without warning." [He's really trying to not look intimidating or scary, but sometimes that's easier said than done. Blame his world and the fact that he does have that light shade of green to his skin.]

"Many people come here from different places. Some of which are familiar cities to others. Like Tokyo. Or, for example, I'm from Washington, DC. but different versions of that city exist in the Nexus."
monochrome_mind: ([1] contemplative)

[personal profile] monochrome_mind 2016-08-27 12:16 am (UTC)(link)
"Yes. That is correct."

[He's still worried about the girl's condition, given her shock towards the whole situation. To be fair, he's dealt with a lot of young children who have struggles of their own. Then again, those students never found themselves in a multidimensional hub.]

"Some of the phones the vendors sell around here might be able to reach your world. I make no promises though." [Even his own cell phone doesn't have that capability yet, although it seems like people can reach other Nexus-goers with their phones easily.]

"...I will do all I can to help."