nexus_crossings | swirl no. 1

"How very Strange is this place?"

Demeter look over the counter to see the different tarts and pastries on display. She wonders if this place was a illusion create by demons like her world.

"Don"t believe what you see."

"Is it awful that I really want to," Aki replies, a tentative smile forming on her lips. Everything looks picture perfect, if she'd brought her phone, she'd taken a ton of pictures to post on Instagram. She's acquainted herself with quite a few of the cafés in Aarhus at this point, this place is nothing like any of them. It's its own world. She truly does feel like Alice and she embraces her own curiosity, the adventure of it, turning her attention towards the other woman. "You haven't been here before either?"

"No," She replied to the young woman.

"This place gives off a bad energy I can feel it."

A bad energy... She throws a glance in the general direction of the cupcakes filling up the stand on the table she's chosen to sit down at. They're tempting and if she's not going directly into morning class, they'll be bad for her figure, too, but if cupcakes are the worst thing this mysterious place can present her with, she'll take it. Be adventurous. Enjoy a taste. Aki reaches for the nearest cupcake, a hot pink girly mess. Bites into it slowly. "It's delicious, though," she comments, once she's cleared her mouth of icing.

The cupcakes look delicious though, she pick up one of them and move towards her lips and take a bite out of it.

"Yum!," she said, " Just like my mom use to make them."

She turn to Aki.

"By the way My name is Demeter Willow, I am from fort lauderdale florida."

Aki can only manage a half-bow from her seated position, but puts the cupcake down to do so. "I'm Aki," she introduces herself and feels her features fade into neutrality for a moment as she actually fights to decide where to say she's from. Japan will always be her home, but it isn't where she's living currently, it isn't where she came from just a moment ago, strictly speaking. The pause stretches into another second, then she decides on the long version. "I'm Japanese, but I'm currently living in Denmark. It's nice to meet you, do you want to have a seat?" With one hand she gestures towards the chair across from her own.

It's hitting that time of year where Reynard has to begin making preparations for the months ahead, which is why such a roughly dressed man is in such a pretty place. He tips his hat and smiles at the pretty young lady sitting all alone and brings the box in his arms to the well dressed woman at the till.

After his business is done, he slows to a stop as he passes by the young woman again. He puts on his most charming smile and warmest voice when he asks, "How is it a lady as beautiful as you is sitting alone?"

She's accustomed herself swiftly, to the place, if not to to the thought of it, its inherent strangeness, decided to be her own Alice and make an adventure of the entire thing, there isn't much else she can do. So Aki has arranged a plate for her own enjoyment, a couple of cupcakes and just finished pouring herself a cup of tea (deciding to worry about how she's going to pay afterwards, later) when a stranger, a man, comes to halt next to her table. He compliments her, a game Aki has never been awfully good at. She prefers how Valdemar calls her darling when he's correcting her, corrections at least she knows how to deal with. For the sake of politeness she smiles, fidgets with the laced border of the tablecloth.

"I suppose no one offered to keep me company."

He leans closer and lowers his voice, telling her playfully, "That is completely unacceptable." He straightens again to bow, one hand over his heart. "May I have the honour of being the first to ask if I might keep you company?"

"I'd like that," she replies only slightly hesitantly and smiles as she gestures towards the empty seat opposite of hers, on the other side of the table. Although she really is horrible at accepting compliments, she has learned how to tackle positive attention as a ballerina, there is always some little (and sometimes older) girl who wants her autograph when they meet her. Small talk she can definitely manage, politeness is in her blood, after all. "Do you want a cup of tea?"

She lifts the teapot slightly, indicating to the man that she'll gladly pour him a cup as well.

A smile spreads across his face and he takes off his hat and rests it on his knee once he's sitting down. "That would be nice, thank you."

Given that this is such a polite and quiet establishment, he waits until she's finished pouring the tea before he speaks. He decides to keep it friendly and simple while he gets an idea of his new friend. "My name is Reynard."

"I'm Aki," she quickly offers in return, deciding that first names will do fine in this context. "I should be glad you came to my aid, seeing how I just arrived and... Well."

Words are failing her. She doesn't quite know how to describe the situation - one moment she was in Aarhus, chasing a bus and now she's here, in a café she's never seen before in her life, located God knows where. She isn't sure she dares leave the establishment to look, what if it's gone when she turns around? Who knows what might happen. In its own right, it's both terrifying and thrilling her.

She was never afraid of a challenge, after all.

"Aki, that's a beautiful name." Compliments aside, he listens to her tentatively voiced concerns, brow lifting as he realises what she's saying. His grin grows broader and he leans in closer. "This is your first time in the Nexus."

He does so love meeting people new to this place. It takes him a moment to compose himself, but he does. "This is the Nexus. It's a… place between worlds, but that doesn't really do it justice." He scoots forward a little in his seat. "People of all shapes and sizes come here from all kinds of places. Things you might have thought were impossible are very much possible in a place like this."

The Nexus? So she hadn't been completely wrong with her Alice idea, this is indeed Wonderland. Of a kind. Aki makes a face, it's worse than she could have imagined and crazier than she could possibly dream up, the chances of her waking up in bed in her tiny, run-down flat back - she'll have to call it home for now, if only because it's not in between worlds, seem suddenly slim, slipping out between her fingers like time or sand. She concludes, weirdly unconcerned, that she's stuck in this place, the first thought to pop into her mind is, do they have a proper studio here, though. She needs to stay in shape, if she's going to be trapped amongst all these cupcakes for a while.

Naturally, it isn't the question she asks him, but neither is it any of the most obvious ones. Like how, why? "Have you been here long," she wants to know, instead. Her voice is calm, her words carefully spoken. Aki is presenting him with her stage fright face. Adrenaline is rushing through her system as she simply sits there in her chair, fingers wrapped around the elegant cup that is of no help to her. If she closed her eyes, she could maybe for a second convince herself that she's about to step onto the stage for something big, a grand pas de deux or a difficult variation.

Maybe.

Reynard sits still, watching the different expression pass across her face. Part of him wants to ramble on, but he holds his tongue. It's a lot of impossibility to take in all at once. He'd best give her time to work through her own thoughts.

Questions don't surprise him. What surprises him is which question she comes out with first. His brow lifts and then drops and he shifts in his seat.

"A couple of years... I can still go back and forth between my own world, so I'm not here all the time. Just enough to get into a little trouble," he says with a cheeky grin and a wink. More earnestly he continues, "I've seen a lot of this place, and I'm a good guide. If you want a tour I'd be happy to show you, or to answer your questions."

He can pass between this world and his own? A sudden burst of relief explodes somewhere in the pit of her stomach and Aki lights up, her adrenaline levels resetting themselves and the world falling into place around her. She'll have to see if the same kind of magic proves the case for her, if she's able to travel back and forth, it would only be one more place to claim as her own and grow familiar with, it can't be any worse for wear than Denmark has proven to be. It can't possibly. At least the surroundings are really nice, so far.

So, Aki smiles at him, beams is more like it, accepting his offer without question. She could have used a guide or a friend in her meeting with Aarhus, so if he wants to help her find her feet here, in the Nexus, who is she to turn him away. She knows when she's in need of help, she knows when she needs to work harder to get better. This is such a time and luckily for her, Reynard seems willing to lend her his hand and his expertise. The experience of others is everything, Satou-san had said on multiple occasions when Aki grew stubborn and solitary in her approach. And Aki had learned from her. From the best.

"I'd be grateful to have your assistance, Reynard," she tells him, voice light and airy, the relief still tingling right beneath her skin.

His smile is wide and endearingly mischievous. "Well then. Finish your tea and I'll show you the wonders of the Nexus."

"In the meantime, why don't you tell me a little about yourself," he suggests. Although the ornate cup looks a little odd being handled my a man like Reynard, he happily sips at it, making a sound of approval and then smiling at her expectantly.

In contrast to the delicate patterns and sweet cupcakes, the woman approaching with her own cup of tea looks terribly out of place. Her leather duster is well-worn and dusty, as are her boots. The only color on her is a delicately patterned scarf wound around her neck so that no skin is showing.

When she spots Aki, the corners of her mouth turn down. She sets down her cup of tea and pulls what looks like a solar-powered pager from her pocket. She types something on the tiny keys and then shows it to her.

You're in my seat.

Aki is in the middle of admiring her teacup, when the woman approaches her, looking rather displeased. When she holds out the pager, a moment of confusion passes between them in which Aki isn't sure what she's looking at, then she focuses on the small text and quickly stands up. "Oh, I'm sorry," she answers, moving aside so the woman can have her chair back. She looks around, but finds herself suddenly not wanting to sit at an empty table, the loneliness of this new place overwhelming her. Momentarily, of course, then she pulls herself together. She casts a long glance at the empty seat opposite of the one she's just abandoned, swallows thickly, so as to get the horribly forward words across her lips more easily.

"Would you mind if I joined you?"

Aki's quick apology smooths out the frown lines on the woman's face to a more neutral expression. She gives her a brief nod, then takes the vacated seat, retrieving her tea and tucking herself in like a large cat. She does not take off her duster, planning to stay only long enough to finish her tea. This place isn't really her style.

She looks up at the other woman's question, as if having already forgotten about her. A silent sigh escapes her lips, but she doesn't look entirely opposed to the idea. She's in civilization, she reminds herself. No need to be so on guard.

Nodding again, she gestures to the seat across from her. Have at it.

The woman doesn't seem too fond of the idea, but with a gesture she still allows Aki to join her at the table, grants her the chance of making herself comfortable in the seat opposite of the one she's just left. The one the woman has claimed for herself once more. Aki smiles a little nervously, sits down and clasps both hands in her lap, looking the table's offerings over. The cupcakes look particularly delicious and if she isn't going into a rehearsal anyway... Her smile takes on an air of genuine enjoyment. She's definitely Alice right now.

"Thank you," she tells the other woman, first and foremost, then continues, "Can you possibly tell me where I am? I just arrived and... I feel like I'm in a rather twisted fantasy."

Sparing a glance at the cupcakes, Adina doesn't seem as tempted. Perhaps she doesn't have a sweet tooth, or she already had her fill of cupcakes earlier. She is keeping an eye on how enamored of them Aki seems to be. Why doesn't she eat one? Adina certainly isn't stopping her...

With the teacup halfway to her lips, she pauses at the question. Another sigh, just as silent, and then she's setting down her tea and pulling out her pager again.

You're in the Nexus. It's a crossroads of many different worlds. She gives Aki another measured look. Do you remember how you got here?

She is of an accommodating nature, Aki prides herself of being, she couldn't move around in this way, from Japan to the UK to Denmark (to here) if she weren't, and as such she gets used to the pager-run communication in a matter of seconds, reading over the small text and nodding in answer, quietly. "I was chasing a bus, but when I turned the corner, I was here instead of..." The slightest of pauses, she looks at the other woman, nameless still, but she's got an air about her that Aki really likes, it's reassuring, "... where I was supposed to go. They're expecting me at the theatre."

It feels as if she's blinked herself into a dreamworld, a true Wonderland. The Nexus? It seems impossible, absurd like something out of a Murakami novel, but she can hardly argue with the reality right before her eyes. She eyes the cupcakes again, sighs deeply and decides to just take one, it won't hurt her, it'll probably taste amazing. Which her first bite into it confirms. An almost swooning expression passes over her features.

Adina has been coming to the Nexus for a long time. Very little surprises her anymore. Aki's story of chasing after a bus and finding herself here instead is similar enough to other stories she's heard before. But she's quietly impressed with Aki's poise. Others have not been so calm upon discovering that they are in an entire new reality.

She lessens the tension in her back slightly, watches as the other woman helps herself to a cupcake. It reminds her of the first time she had a bite of chocolate, offered to her by a stranger in the Nexus. But the last time she had a cupcake, it was too cloying, too sweet. She'll stick with her tea for now.

That happens sometimes, she types. You probably ran through a portal without realizing it. She pauses, and then types something else. My name is Adina. Might as well introduce herself if the other woman is going to be sitting and eating that cupcake for a while.

It all seems like something out of a sci-fi movie, portals and different worlds and people from other universes living their lives here as if nothing is out of the ordinary. In the back of her mind, Aki finds herself thinking that being able to come to a world that seems untouched by the pains of her own feels in some ways like a gift. An opportunity to bring along only the best aspects of Tokyo and London and Aarhus, leaving the hurtful things and all the problems behind. She swallows another mouthful of cupcake while the woman types away at her pager, then shows it to her again. Her name is Adina. It's a beautiful name. Fantastical. Aki smiles, softly, then puts the half-eaten cake down and introduces herself, politely. "I'm Aki." A pause while she considers which of her questions to pose, she doesn't want to take too much of the woman's time, she's been enough of a disturbance already, but she can't help her curiosity. It's an entirely new world! "Do you like it here, in the Nexus?"

Her expression doesn't change much, although she does nod politely in response to the introduction. Politeness is always appreciated. She doesn't get enough of it back on her world.

She takes a sip of tea, letting Aki fill the silence with whatever she wants to ask about the Nexus. She's expecting the usual: how do I get back? Is it safe here? How does one pay for things?

The question Aki actually does ask surprises her. She is not often asked her own opinion. People are impatient enough when it comes to her communication style.

There are many nice things here that I do not have at home. But everything is very complicated. And many of the people are too soft. They think that they are safe here because of the anti-violence field, so they let down their guard. They forget to be careful.

She tempers her blunt reply with a hint of a smile. The tea here is especially good. I will put up with a lot of nonsense for it.

Aki reads over Adina's reply carefully, considering the new information and filing it away for later, should it prove important, something about an anti-violence field, whatever that means, and praise for the tea. Her smile comes very naturally to her this time around and she looks up at Adina, lips curving and softened in their lines. Before commenting on anything, though, she pours herself a cup of tea, too, because if it's so good that it can make this woman smile, it must really be very excellent.

The next question she poses takes her a while to word in a manner that she likes the sound of and at the same time, she tries not to come off as too impatient, too eager to know - as it is, she actually quite likes the atmosphere here and the company as well, so she's not really in any hurry. Except that she worries.

"Will they miss me back home? I mean, they'll notice I'm gone, won't they?"

A sudden, horrible feeling settles in the pit of her stomach, the fear that they might actually not notice, that they might not care. She's still a stranger in Denmark and in some ways, she's a stranger to her family as well, but they'd notice, right? More of a stranger she can't possibly be. Aki's smile fades into nothingness and she wraps her hands tightly around the teacup, it's heated porcelain sides.

While Aki thinks over her next question, Adina sips her tea silently. It's a pain to have to type out everything, she's not about to waste her fingers on trivial nonsense.

She does not miss how the woman's expression changes from friendly curiosity to despondence after she asks about time passing. It softens the hard lines around her mouth, makes her set down her teacup and actually spend a moment or two coming up with a reassuring response.

Time moves differently here. Only a little time may pass where you are from.

It's nice to visit cafes that are not his own. Officer Suou takes comfort in watching others with similar passions flaunt their expertise and talents. He always learns something new, watching others work.

And the tea here is very relaxing too, he's found.

"Try the house blend. Green tea, lemongrass, and a hint of orange peel. If you're looking for a recommendation, that is."

"In an unknown place, recommendations are a survival guide," she replies with a small, cautious smile, looking up. If anything, Aki should know, she's moved around enough to familiarise herself with the feeling of being new.

He doesn't look too scary, so she gestures towards the empty seat across from her with its own little, blue-patterned teacup that reminds her of Royal Copenhagen, decides to mooch off his friendliness a little. If he'll let her. "Would you enjoy a cup of it with me?"

"Is the shop unknown or do you mean the Nexus as a whole?"

He doesn't want to assume. Just because he hasn't seen her face around the Plaza before doesn't mean she hasn't been here. Katsuya only hesitates a moment before accepting her offer and sliding into the chair across from Aki.

"My name is Katsuya Suou. It's a pleasure to meet you."

His head bobs forward automatically in a half bow. A habit he hasn't been able to train himself out of since coming to the Nexus.

His half-bow almost automatically calls forth a bow of her own and she hurriedly introduces herself, "Aki Himura, it's a pleasure, Suou-san."

While he seats himself properly, she reaches out for the teapot, pours both of them a cup and puts it away, all in one fluid movement. She wraps her fingers around the teacup and raises it to her lips, has a taste of the house blend which he recommended so warmly. It's fresh and autumn-like, tastes exactly like the playful gusts of wind that push around the leaves at this time of year look.

"Am I understanding this correctly, that this place is called the Nexus?"

Oh well now that is refreshing in a way he hadn't been able to even realize he missed. Seeing her reciprocate his greeting brings a shy smile to his face briefly. After so long dealing with Western or non humans in the Nexus, it's a comedic shock to him to be greeted in a way he is accustomed to.

"Himura-san. Thank you for the invitation."

His gaze strays to the tins of tea lining the shelves and through the window toward the Plaza where people of all varieties come and go.

"Just so." He's careful when he plucks up the teacup and takes a sip of it slowly. "It can be, eh. Mm. It can be something of a culture shock being here. I remember my first excursion to this place was rather daunting."

Daunting. Daunting is a very fitting word to use in regards to her feelings about finding herself in this new place which has in some still unexplained, magical way sucked her in, Aki thinks and sends him a smile that's mostly expressed by her eyes over the rim of the teacup. Having bumped into him, however, someone else Japanese, feels very reassuring. Feels like a small comfort in all the newness. She savours it. Greatly.

"I could imagine," she nods and puts her cup down, places her hands neatly in her lap. "I feel a bit like Alice in Wonderland, not knowing whether it's a good dream or a nightmare that I've landed in, yet." A pause. She allows herself a brief laughter, it's light and chime-like. "So far, though, it's not bad."

The tea, for example, is good. So is the company.

Time is the trickiest thing for people coming and going from the Nexus. Katsuya is quite used to being just a might bit dated compared to most considering it's barely past the turn of the century back in his world but he's still modern enough to get by without attracting too much attention. Himura-san seems to be a modern sort of woman and that is also less awkward because the officer feels as though he can relate.

"It's not an inaccurate assessment of the situation, though there are remarkably fewer drugs unless one is looking for them."

He chuckles a bit humorlessly at his own joke. It's difficult for him to relax around others but he's making an effort to quash his own awkwardness as best as he can.

"I still feel that way sometimes here and I've been visiting this place off and on for years."

The best part of the Nexus is also the worst part of it: There's too much variety. Like, way too much. It makes buying a gift for a friend – some dried tea leaves, in this case – a real expedition. Today Harrowheart finds himself trawling cafés, landing at this one in particular. It's quaint, it's cozy, it's the kind of place he'd want to recommend to friends if he can remember how to get back here.

One of his severed, magically floating hands grabs a tin of tea off the shelves and begins to inspect it when he notices the new woman who takes a tentative seat nearby. The way she looks around, the uncertainty of her actions... She seems new. And what a nice distraction it would be to meet a stranger!

Harrowheart invites himself to sit nearby her, grinning as he does. Unlike most of the relatively-normal looking people here he looks... Dead. There's the hands, for one, but there's the everything else, too. Veiny blue skin, glowing blue eyes, and a vague aura of coldness that surrounds him.

"What're ya drinkin'?" he asks.

She noticed him the very moment he stepped through the door, but Aki has been brought up well and refrains from staring as the zombie-like man makes his way around the cafe, tending to his own business, so surely she does the same. Pours herself a cup of tea and arranges a muffin on her plate, dead centre, the symmetry perfect. A circle within a circle. Only when he sits down in her vicinity, grinning and asking what she's drinking, does she give him her full attention, trying not to let her disbelief show. Not too obviously, at least. He looks like something out of a Haunted House display. He doesn't even look real. The words won't come naturally and she has to clear her throat once, before she can answer him. "I'm not sure," she says, reaching for her cup and lifting it to her lips, tasting the tea for the first time. It's a white blend, maybe with a hint of peach. Luckily, she loves white tea. "It tastes peachy."

Harrowheart invites his hands to move toward her tea and waft a little of the steam his way so that he can get a sniff. Yeah, he gets a hint of peaches! He smiles and begins to nod as he leans back in his chair.

"So... You're from a world where they got peaches. And you're..."

He tips his head away and narrows his eyes thoughtfully as he appraises her. "Human? You look human, anyway. And It's always a safe bet to guess humans who wind up here came from an Earth."

He raises his eyebrows and smiles expectantly. "Am I right, or am I wrong?"

An Earth? Does that mean that she's now in a place of multiple Earths? Aki has to take a minute to really understand the scope of his observations, how much he's actually telling her in very few words. She's now in a place where not everyone is human, which she might have thought obvious by the looks of him and a place where there might be more than... one Earth. It's mind-boggling! Smiling finally, a bit hesitantly, she nods and turns further away from her tea, towards him. "My name is Aki," she introduces herself, "and I'm definitely from... some kind of Earth, I suppose. One with peaches. What about you?"

It's hard for the intelligence officer not to notice such obvious unfamiliarity with the Nexus and all of its strangeness and newness that people often encounter their first time here. Even he was confused when he first arrived when he was sure he was unflappable. The way the young woman looks around with wonder and confusion makes him smile as he's reminded of his young daughter back on his world, and the way he's certain the little girl would react to ending up in a place like this.

Hughes closes up his files and turns in his seat to face the young woman, still smiling softly. "Feeling a little lost?" he asks in a gentle tone of voice in an attempt to not startle her. "This place can be overwhelming at times, but you're in no danger, I promise."

Edited 2017-10-14 21:04 (UTC)

The older man does startle her, his soft voice not withstanding and Aki jumps slightly in her seat as he approaches her, too lost in her own train of thought to notice him approaching. Smiling hesitantly, she nods her head in greeting, accepting his words on surface-level for what they are, a comfort offered in all this unfamiliarity. She should be grateful, really, that he's only trying to help and really, she is. Grateful. He reminds her of her father, the way he'd always seek her out after a bad rehearsal or an even worse performance. He wouldn't say anything, he'd just sit down next to her and accept it. He always accepted it way faster than she did herself. Aki blinks. Feels the memories swarm her, won't she ever get to see him again? Him, mother or Natsumi? Tokyo. London. Even Aarhus...

"Thank you for your well-meaning words," she replies, finally. "I have absolutely no idea what this place even is."

Being the kindhearted father that he is, it's natural for Hughes to take on the role of comforting parent figure for others. Especially when they're as lost and confused as this young woman seems to be.

"That's a little complicated," he says with a soft chuckle. "Think of it as the place between all other places. It's called the Nexus and from here, you can get anywhere, be it back home or to some other fantastical world that you're looking for adventure on." He's fairly certain she's not looking for an adventure, but it seems practical to throw out multiple options of where one can get from the Nexus to make the point more clear.

Once the young woman seems a little more settled, he smiles a at her and offers his hand, if she cares to shake it (not everyone who comes here does, he has discovered). "Maes Hughes," he says in way of introduction. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

swirl no. 1

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