Time for a big ol' Nexus Block party

[sumarusfinest]

On a sleepy summer morning a wonderful smell begins to waft throughout the Nexus. For those familiar with this place there can only be one explanation but for those new faces to the nexus this may be a strange thing: seeing so many people flocking toward the sweet and savory scents perfuming the Nexus.

There are a few tables set out this morning in the Plaza in front of a small cafe loaded with several carafes of coffee, a myriad of pastries from more than a few different worlds and cultures, and a large pan of eggs and sausage kept warm over a chafing dish. On either end of the table are disposable plates, cups, and cutlery as well as a few welcome pamphlets in a small container. Along the front of the tables is a hand made banner.

Meet and Greet

Manning the tables is Katsuya Suou, red apron on and a cup of coffee in hand. He looks far too cheerful for how early in the morning it is. It's always satisfying to put one of these on and see the throngs of different people stuck in line together to get their food and find a place to sit among the tables and couches nearby.

"Right then, is anyone hungry? I've got more than enough here for everyone so please mingle among yourselves or feel free to ask me anything you'd like."


((OOC: This thread is ALL ABOUT threadjacking and hopping. I encourage folks to tag on each other's comments and mingle rather than to reply only to me. This is a huge opportunity to have your characters interact with people they wouldn't have talked to before. Branch out! Meet new people! Scheme new schemes! Steal the last chocolate croissant!))

Comments

[chiron_survivor]

It takes a moment or two for Caspar to process exactly what he's looking at. That alone tells him that Panda has a long way ahead of him to perfect his drawing style. It's better than his niece Hera's artwork, but she's three.

"Uh..." He looks up from the cellphone to Panda's anxious face and feels himself start to sweat a little under the collar. It's not like him to offer something other than the unvarnished truth. But... he doesn't want to hurt Panda's feelings. What to do???

"It's, uh... it's a real cute style, Panda. I bet Adia would love it." Princess oinks and he saves face by lifting up the piglet so she can also take a look. "How long have you been drawing?"

~*~

"Harley doesn't." Their mutual friend is good at giving people second chances. "I don't know what Katsuya thinks. He had to fight this particular god of chaos once before, so he might not be too happy with anyone who became a disciple in another life. But both of them are good at making sure Jeff wouldn't try something like that again."

More importantly, they can keep tabs on Jeff without confronting him or causing a scene. She can't trust that Caspar won't do that, not if Jeff catches him on a bad day. She can't even trust herself -- she's aware of how easily she gives away what she's feeling without even trying.

Like now, for instance, when Ice Bear's words make her blush and smile shyly. "I'm glad you understand me," she says to her furry friend, before impulsively getting up and giving him a hug. "Thanks again, Ice Bear. I promise, if something happens that is genuinely dangerous, I'll let you know right away."

[rekindledtitan]

"I wouldn't have thought of that, but you're probably right." That's Jesse though, always mindful of other people. It's good to have him back. Though she needs to talk to him about Angel, once they've caught up a little...

And Jesse has a tale to tell. Blaze nods grimly as soon as he mentions the Government. Experimentation and unethical human augmentation... and the picture doesn't get any prettier the more he describes. Well. Not until the bit with the tank. Her intent look is cracked by synthetic laughter.

"Now I'm sorry I missed it. Wouldn't have minded seeing you take that treadcrawler for a spin." And found some sound allies into the bargain. She does want to hear what made them clear out in such a hurry, but since he's asked, well, what has happened...?

"You know us: we never stop fighting. Hmm. Well, our system was invaded by a dark god of the Hive and his armies last year. Oryx, the Taken King. I'm told he was sorta furious about some Guardians destroying his son, heh. Our people put an end to the king too, but some of his creatures survived. We're still finding their blight all across our planets.

"And then the Nexus got invaded again. You hear about that yet? Some genetically engineered supersoldier with a pack of followers and a grudge against Captain Kirk. He got his hands on a magic artifact and tore this place apart. Hurt and killed a lot of civilians. Hnh. We taught him the same lesson the demons learned. Attack the Nexus, and the whole damned Nexus fights back. Everyone was out there fighting. There were some honest-to-the-Light dragons out blasting him, and hell if I didn't get a hard time from the Vanguards about that. It still makes me angry to think about, but I can't deny the battle was amazing.

"Of course we took him down. There'd be nothing for you to come back to if we hadn't. Only Steve- you remember Steve Rogers, don't you? He took a direct hit from an energy blast while he was running decoy duty for us. I honestly thought he was a dead man- and not the kind that's good company. But Steve came back! He's, uh, just a little different now, if you see him." A second's pause. "And there are two of him, but that's a recent development. Nexus crap. Nothing to worry about. Oh, and the last Halloween party turned into a shitshow when some guy's psychic power... exploded? Still not clear about that. Trapped a bunch of people in their worst nightmares anyway. I think one of the magic types got us all out." This last story is the shortest because it involves no punching and for no other reason at all.

Blaze snorts then. "All that and I'm leaving out all the best bits. I've got to tell you these stories properly sometime."

[lionofthelight]

"A joke?" Zandros barely whispers the words. He covers his nose with both hands and mournfully moans, "And to be told it was merely a joke!"

Harrowheart rolls his eyes. Now that Jim is on his feet he leaves his friend with a final pat to the shoulder and moves for Zandros. He grips the other man by the collar and effortlessly lifts him up. His mumbled, "C'mere, asshole," is quieter than Zandros' surprised sputtering. When the paladin is standing again Harrow tries to help him out by brushing some of the blood speckles off of his coat, which, in hindsight, was as dumb an idea as any. He only succeed in smearing it all around. Harrow pulls a face when he looks at the jacket, but Zandros, who's pointedly looking away from them all, doesn't notice.

Harrow gestures to Isidor with his clean hand and absently licks the blood off his fingers as if it were batter. Between fingers he stops to ask, "Why'd you go and fly off the handle and ruin a perfectly fine mornin', Zandros?"

Light glows between the cracks of Zandros' fingers cupped over his nose, and a few seconds later he reveals a significantly less painful-looking face. "I... Dishonorably assumed the two were... Romantically entangled."

Harrowheart blinks hard as his mind comes grinding to an abrupt stop. Excuse? Ex... Excuse? His wide eyes flit frantically between Isidor and Jim, Jim and Isidor, and then...!

He tosses his head back and he LAUGHS! No, more than that, he CACKLES! It's a hyena call that begins in the voice of a man and ends with a metallic, ghostly echo when his desire to keep laughing outpaces the breath in his lungs.

"Jim!" he shouts as he fights back more laughter. "And Isidor!"

Zandros cringes. He closes his eyes and, like a whipped dog, hides his face.

Harrowheart's laughter picks up again as he reaches into his pockets for a lighter and a smoke. He lights the thing, sticks it between his lips, and chuckles even as he plants it there.

"Jim ain't got the patience."

Zandros doesn't know what that means and he doesn't care to. "Harrowheart, please," he begs quietly. "I have thoroughly debased myself and in the process hurt an innocent man and shamed the woman I am meant to cherish. Please, don't laugh. Escort me elsewhere that I might leave two wronged people in the peace of each other's company."

Now Harrowheart hesitates. He looks to Jim and Isidor for help, but Zandros quietly repeats, "Please? Now more than ever I need the guidance of a friend... And in this place you are the only one I have."

Harrowheart's eyebrows rise and his cigarette balances on his parted lips. He blinks again, though this time there's nothing for him to laugh about after. With a heaving sigh he puts his arm around Zandros' shoulder and nods elsewhere in the crowd.

"Come on," he mumbles, then turns to glance guiltily between his two true friends. If this is what he has to do to fix this situation, this is what he has to do...

[losthunter]

"I will. I appreciate the fact that you are both there for me." Hunter stands to leave, and to find other friends.

"Goodbye all. Especially you Princess."

[thewiselion]

"All animals talk where I am from. I understand it is different for many other worlds." Aslan nods slightly.

[rekindledtitan]

"So there's a retirement package? That's supposed to be a good sign, right?" It doesn't sound like one she'd go for - paradise seems pretty dull - but who's a war bot to judge?

"We're known for being willful," she'll agree proudly. "Tests our commander's patience every day, even if we mostly try to follow orders. Maybe it would be different if the Traveler were awake, but it's been dormant for centuries. It left us guides-" she nods up at the Ghost - "but even they can only help us work out the path we want to follow."

She considers, looks up at Alec. "I'm going to guess the green doesn't take it well if you don't follow its will exactly?"

[notalldead]

Jesse listens raptly and attentively, his eyes going wide at some parts. Okay, a LOT of parts. "Dark g-...Y'all fought a god?! And even took him down!?" He should be used to the concept of railing against the divine and even winning thanks to how the Nexus works, but that's still a pretty big thing to wrap one's mind around! "Hope you bein' so casual about it is cuz it were easy and not cuz it's somethin' that happens everyday in yer neighbourhood. Not that I got any doubt y'can tackle just about anything tossed yer way." He gives Blaze a wink.

However, he's frowning and making a dismayed sigh by the time the talk of the second invasion comes around. That's...disappointing. That's sad and disappointing. Why the so-called anti-violence field can't hold is a mystery someone more magically inclined should start solving. "Glad y'guys showed them how the Nexus has got folks who can raise hell and stick a chunk under it. Just hope the lesson's got stayin' power this time. It ain't right. It ain't right that people are gettin' hurt and killed in a place like this. This place is supposed to be a good thing, where we find other people and find things and places what are useful! My gang wouldn't be livin' as high on the hog as we are if it weren't fer you and Ghost, fer instance. You bet your boots we took those generators you made for us along with."

And that last one, it's-...wait, wait. Why did that one get the fastest skim? That one sounds the WEIRDEST. "Wait, hol' up. Even the Halloween party got rained on in a bad way? Someone's head a'sploded? What? And people got chucked into nightmares? Like...People went to sleep? What happened to the varmint who started it? He locked up or dead or at least sorry?" Jesse might be a little quick on the draw regarding justice being served, but he's also fired up from hearing that the Nexus has been taking a beating in his absence. These things got to stop happening!

Oh, but then something slots into place about Blaze's phrasing. "...You said someone got US out. You-...Wait, you got caught up in it? Did this psychic whomawhatsis get YOU?" Jesse looks proper worried and horrified now! And in his asking after it, he's unthinkingly reached out and taken ahold of one of Blaze's metal biceps, holding onto her in concern.

[conjuredskies]

There are a couple of muffled 'oof's and 'ow!'s from the crowd as Felix ruthlessly elbows his way through to see what juicy trouble is in progress. He'd skirted away from this part of the room because last he saw Isidor and her twin admirers were over here. and even he wasn't going to push his luck just to find out why one of them was hanging off her arm.

Now, however- he heard Harrowheart shouting Jim and Isidor's names and laughing, and he has to know- and there Jim is, bloodied and staggering on his feet, nice shirt stained with coffee; there is Isidor, immaculate and taut as a ballista spring- and there is Harrowheart... escorting away one of the pretty hangers-on?

"Sweet Sheogorath," he mutters, then lifts his voice for the second part, "what madness is this?" Ugh, Jim's a mess. The Imperial strides forward - only hesitating to duck his head deferentially to Isidor. They haven't properly met since the showdown in the crypts of Rielle, the better part of a year gone. He remembers enough not to think she thinks kindly of him - and enough to be very unnerved by the suppressed wrath emanating from her.

But Jim matters more. The conjurer's hands catch his shoulder, his chin. "Let me look at you. Mara's sake, Jim, what were you doing?" He shoots a look over his shoulder, in the direction of the retreating man (and death knight). "...And who is that?"

Who dared to mess up Jim's face?

caspar's reaction = priceless

[icebearforpresident]

Sorry Caspar, but this is definitely the art of someone who has more passion than talent. Panda seems to brighten up at his words though, feeling a great deal of pride in his work. Caspar likes it. "Wow! Thank you for the compliment! I've been working on my art for months now. I'm getting ready to take some classes at the local community college as well, so soon I'll be master artist."

Someone help this poor misguided panda bear...

~*~

Ice Bear listens quietly, both paws in his lap, thinking about everything Adia has said so far. Jeff's correction and apparent involvement with Marie. He's still uncertain about the whole thing, but if this is what Adia wants, he'll go along with it. The hug is definitely out of the blue, but Ice Bear goes along with it, giving Adia a hug as well.

"If you need Ice Bear for anything, please ask." The bear can only hope things go better for his happy couple.

[big_bad_sheriff]

Bigby turns his big shaggy head to look at the speaker, no one he recognizes, the man's scent a cautious one. Not unexpected, given his current appearance. He tilts his head slightly, yellow gaze fixed on the human.

"Sure. Is that a problem?" he asks, his voice gruff but calm.

[big_bad_sheriff]

Fear's a pretty unmistakable scent, and Bigby's already glancing in the human's direction before he speaks. He does a very subtle doubletake upon seeing the winter coat, yellow eyes assessing the stranger. How very odd. "Isn't that hot?" he asks. A sheriff's work is never done, and this is irregular to say the least. Worth investigating.

[conjuredskies]

Felix fancies himself an accomplished charmer, and at the least his manners are in good shape. Aside from that, the more at ease this fellow is the more Felix can learn from him in turn.

"An observatory? Ah, I take it you're a scholar!" He flashes the man a grin. "You are in the right place, then. I know how tempting it can be to hole up with one's research and never venture out - especially in a small and uneventful town - but curiosity is an excellent lure. And there's no shortage of sights to spark your curiosity here."

[big_bad_sheriff]

Well, at least the mundy's polite. Lots of people aren't, these days, although Bigby might blame that on interacting with other Fables so much. He's not exactly well loved by many, even if they do respect his authority.

"England, huh." Been a long time since Bigby's been on that side of the pond. "Feels like the heat wave New York's getting right now. The breeze'll last a couple hours, 's long as the winds obey me here."

[big_bad_sheriff]

The name rings only a vague bell, until she mentions Sherlock. Holmes, he presumes. No one he's familiar with personally, but then, he doesn't know every single Fable by name, either. Either way, he knows enough about alternates to doubt these particular ones are from the same Homelands, but enough to get the gist.

"Detective types, right." Not too far from his own wheelhouse.

Wolves don't smile, exactly, but he lets out a single chuckle under his breath. "Just pick a table or somethin'. And thanks."

[ottershawastronomer]

The astronomer is confused and interested. Does this wolf - and he's sure now that he's not talking to an ordinary wolf, for starters because ordinary wolves couldn't talk - have supernatural control over the weather?

"The weather is hotter than I'm used to, definitely." Ogilvy gives a weak smile at the wolf's remark. He's sure he looks most undignified, although he's certain the huge wolf won't hurt him now. He's just a naturally nervous man. "Thank you. If I may introduce myself, sir, my name is Gavin Ogilvy."

[bookbrawler]

Right so...he does talk, that's cool.

"No, nope, not a problem. I mean, unless you're looking to blow someone's house down. You're not, are you?"

Just asking.

[ottershawastronomer]

"That is true of my world. What kind of world are you from, if I may ask?" Other worlds aren't part of Ogilvy's usual purview, but he has a scientist's mind.

[big_bad_sheriff]

She's definitely got his attention, judging by the angle of his ears. Her confession's familiar, relatable, and something he doesn't get all that often back home anymore either. Lone wolf or not, sometimes it's nice to hear he ain't alone in feeling that way, especially when so many of his fellow Fables seem to think he should be content with being in human shape all the time. "There's too many folks who think wolves should be like dogs, but we aren't. We're meant to run wild, even if it's only once in a while."

One can only guess indeed, although Bigby is fairly certain he's got a good idea what she means. "It's definitely not the easiest job. Keeps me on my toes."

[big_bad_sheriff]

Bigby doesn't have a lot of interactions with mundies these days, so it's a bit of an odd feeling not to be recognized. Not necessarily bad though. Or unexpected, given how this Nexus place seems to work. "Bigby Wolf," he answers, privately grateful that the human didn't try to shake hands. "Don't think I've seen you around before."

[to_the_wolves]

Seeing his ears perk up is a sign that she's hit some sort of nerve or at least has the other wolf thinking about something. Her hands are nervously rubbed together, knowing full well she can't reveal all of her secrets, despite being in the presence of a similar being. "Being in law enforcement is no different from running a business. People want us to be poised, abiding to the code of human established rules. We have to decide how much of that law to follow before giving in to our primal selves."

She lowers her head solemnly. "I'm only half your size and I should be afraid, but I'm jealous." Finally, she breaks the tension by managing a weak laugh and a smirk. "How fast are you, Mr. Bigby? Can I extend a friendly meetup at a later date?" In other words, wolf hangout time.

[big_bad_sheriff]

Man, people are never gonna let that go, are they? At least Colin has an excuse, being that it was his house and all. "That was one time," Bigby says, trying not to sound too exasperated. Even Fabletown's amnesty doesn't make people forget what anyone did before the Exodus, and the Big Bad Wolf is no different. "I haven't had to hunt for my food for centuries."

[big_bad_sheriff]

Well, that's certainly an... unorthodox perspective, at least compared to what he usually hears from Snow or Crane. With them it's all rules, regulations, blah blah don't be a wolf. And sure, rules have their place in society, they're not completely worthless or anything, but some of them are just needlessly restrictive. Bigby was born wild, and no matter how much he pretends to be a man these days, he's really not. Either way, the comparison has him looking over at her, considering. "That what you do?" he asks. "Run a business?"

It might be the first time someone's actually been envious of him, and he's not quite sure what to say, at first. Maybe the grass really is greener and all that. But her question gets a low chuckle out of him, unexpected but not unwelcome. Though he's not prone to stupid jokes or wordplay, it isn't every day he gets a setup this clean. "I run like the wind." With a lineage like his, he'd better. "If you want to run with me, I hope you're quick."

[to_the_wolves]

"Yes. Nothing illegal, but when I came to the Nexus, I knew I wanted something for myself. Surprisingly, people will pay stupid amounts of money to relive their pasts. So I began a service of sorts, which cascaded into opening souvenir style shops." Wow. Even speaking about 9 years of hard work seems insignificant in comparison to the achievements others have accomplished. That or it proves how childish she can be. "The best way I can sum it up is being an antique dealer, but replace antique with 'silly hard to find toy that your child won't stop screaming about' and that pretty much sums up my line of work."

Size must not be an issue then and Marie simply nods her head. "It sounds like I might have a challenge then. What shall we bet on this race?"

[bookbrawler]

Nope, sorry.

Okay, so this doesn't sound like a Libris Fabula thing, no magical books overwriting reality, so that's good. Definitely a relief. But the way he answered meant he actually lived what it, so...is he the actual guy? Or wolf.

"That's...good for any pigs who...can actually build structures. Lemmie just ask--are you a Fictional?"

[big_bad_sheriff]

Good for the pigs who make shitty construction decisions, certainly. Bigby decides not to say that out loud though. He's already got enough of a reputation to worry about, and this stranger hasn't even touched on the Red Riding Hood thing yet. No need to give him more ammo.

He hasn't heard the term Fictional before, but it's close enough. "I'm a Fable, sure. You?" Hey, he can't always tell from scent alone. There's plenty of human Fables in Fabletown.