Josh Washington (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
brother_alone) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
nexus_crossings2017-06-08 01:50 pm
brother_alone) wrote in nexus_crossings2017-06-08 01:50 pm
(no subject)
Some days are better than others.
On Bad Days, the Nexus' resident schizophrenic is hardly recognizable. He's a mess of garbled and slurred speech. Delusional rantings. Unkempt clothes and wild dangerous eyes. The world he sees and hears so far different from reality. He shouts at shadows, throws rocks at the birds, claws at his hair as though he's trying to rip himself out of his own body.
Joshua tends to go somewhere by himself when he's having a Bad Day, though. He's very very used to hiding his condition and pretending to be normal. There are Good Days, too.
Days when he has a part time job, a put together appearance, and a friendly temperament. A life to his eyes that seems so small and fragile and full of hope. Joshua has a few bags with him when he comes to the Nexus today, frowning thoughtfully at the address written down he's supposed to be delivering to.
"You'd think in a meeting place between all worlds and times, prank callers would get more clever than 'Seymour Butts'." With a sigh, he dumps the address in the nearest rubbish bin and takes a seat on one of the couches. So much for his delivery.
"So, does anyone want to commit some petty identity theft for a free meal?" Hell, he'll pretend to be Seymour Butts if it means a free bowl of IceBear's soup. He's going to snag a freshly baked croissant out of the bag first though and pull off a piece of it. "Alternatively, what's the best prank you've ever pulled?"
On Bad Days, the Nexus' resident schizophrenic is hardly recognizable. He's a mess of garbled and slurred speech. Delusional rantings. Unkempt clothes and wild dangerous eyes. The world he sees and hears so far different from reality. He shouts at shadows, throws rocks at the birds, claws at his hair as though he's trying to rip himself out of his own body.
Joshua tends to go somewhere by himself when he's having a Bad Day, though. He's very very used to hiding his condition and pretending to be normal. There are Good Days, too.
Days when he has a part time job, a put together appearance, and a friendly temperament. A life to his eyes that seems so small and fragile and full of hope. Joshua has a few bags with him when he comes to the Nexus today, frowning thoughtfully at the address written down he's supposed to be delivering to.
"You'd think in a meeting place between all worlds and times, prank callers would get more clever than 'Seymour Butts'." With a sigh, he dumps the address in the nearest rubbish bin and takes a seat on one of the couches. So much for his delivery.
"So, does anyone want to commit some petty identity theft for a free meal?" Hell, he'll pretend to be Seymour Butts if it means a free bowl of IceBear's soup. He's going to snag a freshly baked croissant out of the bag first though and pull off a piece of it. "Alternatively, what's the best prank you've ever pulled?"
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"Yeah?" He looks over at her after a long moment and twitches the beginning of a smile across his face. "I hope it's as good of a chance for your people as you think it is." When she thanks him for his help he flushes a bit and glances away.
"You're welcome. It's..I mean, it's what anyone woulda done."
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"Not anyone," she gently disagrees. "You're a very charitable person, Josh." She holds up the bowl of ramen as an example. "You were there for me when I needed someone. That means a lot to me."
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Space isn't really his expertise of random knowledge, but he knows a bit. Just enough Revamped Cosmos knowledge to hopefully give Adia a bit of hope that isn't just empty words but based on fact about his Earth.
"I don't...like to see people suffering. Is all. You've been nothing but nice to me, you know? I wanted....I wanted to help if I could."
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She watches him quietly for a moment, hoping he'll look at her again. "Things are much better now," she tells him. It's important that he knows that, that she isn't still suffering. "And if there's anything I can do to help you, you let me know, okay?"
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Josh finishes the pastry he had set aside before and smiles softly down at Sarah to give her one last pet before his attention is fully on Adia again. He's really not used to be given compliments, especially these days.
"Good. You deserve better." He means it, too. So much about this woman reminds him of his sisters in a way that makes him want to be a better person. Help her out whenever he can. "Really, if you see me out screaming at shadows, just make sure you call Han or Icebear or something. Take me back to Ice's house. So I don't hurt no one."
He shrugs. It would be nice if he knew what was wrong with him, or how he could treat it, but after so long with no one being able to diagnose him, Josh has nearly given up on ever getting better.
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It's her turn to blush a little at the compliment. She's unsure if he means her ex-boyfriend or her situation in general, but with the two tied up so tightly with one another, it doesn't really matter. She nods solemnly at his words, taking his condition seriously. "I will. I have Ice Bear's contact on my PINpoint. Who is Han? I don't think I've met him."
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Not that Han or Ice could fix him either, but they at least have experience with him being batshit insane. They can wrangle him up and get him away from other people at least. Less likely for him to get hurt, too.
Josh almost scoffs in disbelief at someone not knowing Han Solo, but Adia's world is much different than his is. It's easy to forget a cultural icon could be anyone to someone who doesn't know.
"He's a friend of mine. Owns the speeder I helped fix last summer.He's a pilot, likes to wear vests."
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Perhaps someday Adia will have an opportunity to watch some Earth movies and get better acquainted with its pop culture. Until then, Han Solo is just another Nexus denizen. But she'll make an effort to find him, if it's important to Josh. "A pilot? What does he fly?"
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He gives a thoughtful tilt to his head. Pauses to rummage around in the bags of food for another pastry to nibble on. Ooh, home made foccacia. Score! Nom nom nom.
"S'far as I know humans have never been living anywhere but Earth in my world, so like..." He pulls up a picture of the planet on his phone and hands it over to her. "When that photo was taken every man, woman, and child alive and dead were all in that photo, except for the person who took it. It's crazy, you know?"
"He has a cargo ship called the Millenium Falcon. I forget what model ship it is, but it's got FTL capabilities. He flies all around his home galaxy in it."
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Setting the plastic bowl in her lap, she takes Josh's phone. She has seen this particular photo before during her intermittent research of Earth, but she still takes a minute to look it over, her expression full of wonder, as if someone has given her a precious gift. "It's so beautiful... "
Josh's words break her out of her trance. She hands back his phone, suddenly a lot more interested in his friend Han. "A spaceship? Is he from an Earth, too, or somewhere else?"
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It's not like he wants to rub it in, with her being from a place that's searching desperately for Earth. It's the only home he's ever known. At least until taking up residence in the Nexus, that is.
The phone is quickly pocketed in either case. He shakes his head quickly.
"They don't have Earth where he's from. There's a lot of planets in his galaxy that have humans on them, and tons more with all other kinds of life. He's from a place called Corellia."
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There's a small amount of disappointment that she tries hard not to show. If Mr. Solo is not from Earth, then the star charts he has on his ship won't be of much use to her. But by the time she picks up her bowl of ramen, now nearly gone thanks to her appetite and Ice Bear's amazing cooking, her interest in Josh's friend returns. "Someone else not from Earth... there aren't a lot of us, are there?" She smiles. "I look forward to meeting him. He's not from the same universe as Shark, is he? The little alien lawyer?"
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"He's kind of arrogant but not like a total asshole about it. He's always looking out....for me. Actually I'm glad I was able to help him with the speeder. He broke his arm last summer in that weird coliseum thing that happened. Until then, he was really only ever helping me. So I got to give back, then."
I got an error when posting the tag and forgot to try again. >_<
She thinks for a moment that he's still talking about Shark, but despite how fond she is of the diminutive clone, there's no "kind of" modifying his arrogance. "I'm glad Han has been looking out for you. I know how important it is to give back, too. I'm glad you got the opportunity." She pauses, the last few curls of noodle clinging to her chopsticks. "Do I want to know about the weird coliseum thing?”
Oop!
Adia may have to find a less biased person to get the details on this particular event. Josh is quick to talk up all of the badass moments his friend had.
"Though the guy I was sitting with--weird guy in a leather skirt-- seemed pretty bummed that Kirk lost."
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Not that she holds it against Josh. He's young man, they're usually into that sort of thing. Finally swallowing, she wipes at her mouth with a napkin and listens to his description of the disappointed man who sat next to him during the fight. "Oh, that must be Felix. He's Jim's boyfriend."
Only belatedly does she realize that maybe she shouldn't have said that so freely. As frustrated as she is over how loose Felix plays with the truth, he's still her friend, and she's willing to respect the things he keeps private. She doesn't know if this is one of those things.
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"Well, I know Han signed up for a chance to get the funds he needed to fix his ship. So it was a good thing, you know? Not so much him getting hurt but he had me around to help him out while he recovered."
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Her bowl empty, she closes the lid back on. "Thank you again so much for the ramen. I'm going to recycle this and then take Steve's pokémon to the park. Do you have any other trash? I can take it with me."