nexus_crossings | Time for a big ol' Nexus Block party

Time for a big ol' Nexus Block party

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!))

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"Alec Holland. Some call me the Swamp Thing." He can't eat but his toes do extend slightly, unseen, to root in the sunshine. Watching the meat makes stare passively. The one thing he doesn't miss is steak. A good juicy steak...

He shakes his great green head, "I tend to keep to the forests...out of town. Apologies in advance. They've become swamps at this point."

Neither of those names are familiar to him, but he sounds Fable enough that Bigby feels comfortable thinking of him as one. Or close to one. "Thanks. For the heads up," he clarifies, after a beat. "I prowl around there sometimes." It reminds him of home, a little bit. More home than the stink of New York anyway.

"I'm happy to try and make things easier for people who tread into where I've made my domain. If I can."

"The magic in this place leaves my powers and abilities a bit haywire."

It's not the first time Bigby's heard of magical interference, even though he's not seen somebody quite like Alec before. "You ever see a witch about that? Might be some spell that could help you out."

"I've had-bad luck with wizards and witches."

Constantine. He's surprised John hasn't shown up in the Nexus yet. This whole place seems to ooze his sort of charm some days despite how much he likes it's Green.

He reflects for a moment on how strange it is to be so calm about these sorts of things. Witches and Wizards. He drove a prius for godsake.

"My magic is a bit too much for them to handle on a good day. If you know any who deal in earth magic though I'll take recommendations."

A few vines have begun to creep up the table legs and he orders them back with a wave of his hand.

"...You're of the red. The animal kingdom." Are you their avatar? Enquiring minds want to know.

"I can ask around," Bigby offers. "Next time I'm on the Thirteenth Floor. If I find one, I'll point her your way."

Of the red, he's called it. It brings to mind thoughts of hot blood on his tongue and in his teeth, staining his muzzle. Sounds about right. "Yep. Don't get to let my fur down much these days though. Mundies and all."

"Mundies?"

There are a number of beings here who are unusual, but apart from Jacob Stone (and Hazel but the less said of her the better) it would be nice to see some more green beings...

the lack of them is a bad thing. These red monsters...

Alec ignores it, "the humans? Here? They've been more understanding then humans in my world."

"Humans, sure, not the ones here though. There's enough crazy shit going on here that Fables are barely a bump in the road." Bigby shakes his big shaggy head. "Nah, it's the ones back home that're the problem. They don't know we exist, and it's Fabletown law to keep it that way. Anyone who can't pass for human has to go to the Farm, upstate."

A farm? It's hard not to bristle a bit at that. Dogs you want to put out to pasture go to farms but...it makes sense. How can he live with people being what he is? The only person who could stomach his presence, his smell, was Abigail. And she's dead..

"Fables. Like fairy tales."

He has a pretty good guess as to which fairytale you belong to, "Is the farm nice?" At least?

"I'd imagine it houses quite a few people. Giants and monsters like myself..."

"Like fairy tales," Bigby affirms. Good, he gets it. Funny, though... that anger smells just the same coming off this guy as it would any other Fable he knows. "There's glamour spells to make up the difference for those who don't pass on their own, but they're expensive to make."

That's a bit of a loaded question, not that Alec would know, and Bigby considers his answer. "Yeah. It's a huge chunk of land, shielded from the mundies, so nobody's gotta worry about prying eyes. There's fields and a forest, and a river for the aquatic folks. I don't know the exact population or anything. Definitely some giants though."

glamour spells. Alec stares at his hands before nodding mutely to him.

"No Swamps huh? Swamp Things matter too." He nods, "I'm joking. I doubt there are a lot of swamp creatures like me, or plant elementals for that matter. That's what I do. I'm a plant elemental. I manage the green compared to the red and the black."

You can probably guess which one is the black. He nods, "Except I was human at one point. Not sure where I'd fit on the "fictional creatures" scale.

"You'd be surprised," Bigby says, and if he was human right now, he would shrug. "There's at least a couple talking trees at the Farm." The colors pique his interest, though, and he tilts his head slightly. Green is plants, red is apparently animals, black... "Black is decay?" he guesses. Where all things go at the end, of course.

Bigby has never really thought about there needing to be a scale to one's... Fableness. "Plenty of human Fables around, and those who've been something else before. Beast, for one. Guy still gets hairy when you piss him off. Maybe in Fabletown a guy like you'd draw some eyes, 'cuz of all the mundies, but on the Farm, I don't think anybody'd even blink."

"Refreshing."

He considers the idea of the black and how to explain, "Black is the Rot, Death and decay but it's been..." He frowns. It makes him uncomfortable, it feels violating to discuss it, "Human beings who end up becoming Avatars succumb to the will of their parliaments, some who don't either end up becoming legendary - or monsters. One of the black's avatars became a monster. And not...in a good way."

He pauses, "It's a long story. It seems interesting to be surrounded by other...strictly magical creatures."

Bigby can smell his discomfort, although he's not entirely sure why, until Alec explains further. "Hmm. Imagine that must be totally opposite your, er, green then." This guy seems very full of life to him, on multiple levels. He sure smells like wild nature and growing things, anyway.

He doesn't shrug exactly, but he's also not the type to push for stories unless it's important to his job. Fables who want their stories known usually tell 'em themselves. "Some of us've got longer stories than others."

"Considerably. He's...responsible for my predicament." And my wife's. He shakes his head and sighs, exhaling a massive expanse of oxygen, "...Dare I ask about yours? Would it be...insulting if I said "Big bad wolf"?

The wolf doesn't tilt his head or blink an eye. "Not an insult. It's been my name for a long time."

He can never tell how much someone's heard about him though. Even his fellow Fables don't always know the whole story, the real one anyway. "Which one've you heard?"

Alec has to think. There's the one he's heard and then there are the ones other Avatars have learned.

"You eat little red riding hood's grandmother then the woodcutter cuts you open to save her." ...I never thought I'd sympathize with the wolf. The wood cutter was essential and most forests accepted their relationships with human beings. Still. It did irk them.

Upon occasion.

"That's the dark one. There are a couple of others but that one in particular sticks out. There's also "You blow down the house" and the pigs sing a song about "who's afraid of the big bad wolf." Disney did that one.

Bigby nods his big shaggy head, the stories familiar, if lacking in detail. As embarrassing as the first incident was to lose, it still happened. "Yep. Woody's been a thorn in my paw ever since. Fabletown amnesty means none of us can be held legally accountable for any shit we did before the Exodus, but it doesn't make people forget."

The second story is a bit less dark, it's true. "Yeah, I did that one too. Didn't eat any of 'em, not for lack of trying. Colin still gives me shit about wrecking his house." There's a hint of fondness in his voice when he mentions the name, though; unlike the Woodsman, Bigby has a more friendly relationship with this particular pig.

"For what it's worth, I'm far more sympathetic to your plight then I ever was to the woodsman."

Even before he turned into the swamp thing, "AS essential as trees are to human beings...it still..."

Instincts man. Instincts.

"I have friendly sorts of relationships with humans like that. We end up being...allies of sorts."

Well, that's something he doesn't hear every day. Sure, Bigby didn't exactly have good intentions, back in the day, but he was hungry and intended to eat his prey like nature intended, so it's not like he was flat-out evil or anything. Not many Fables see it that way, but then there aren't a lot of wolves, either. Or other predators of any kind, really.

"Of sorts," he echoes in agreement. "Kinda funny sometimes where fate takes you, in the end. Folks you never thought you'd get along with, turns out they aren't so bad to be around. Can't change your nature, but there's a hell of a lot else that can."

Alec would disagree - but he's not the sort of person (being?) to try and approach Anton Arcane unless it's with a means to end him forever.

Then he thinks of the few...humans he knows. Matt Cable, Batman, Poison Ivy - and realizes there are more then he thought.

"...Good people around you. Even if you're in a...difficult situation."

"Yeah. A common enemy doesn't hurt, either. We don't always get along perfect, but nobody does. All we can do is our best."

"A common enemy?"

Alec can't raise an eyebrow but he manages to do so. If Bigby is watching he'll note his toes slightly root.

He may not see it, but 'my what big ears you have' is as accurate as the tales say, picking up the subtle sounds of topsoil being scratched and shifted.

"Right." Bigby forgets sometimes, that not everyone knows that part of the story. It's the one thing all Fables living in the mundy world have in common. "Nobody knows who the Adversary is, or where he came from. All we know is he conquered the Homelands and killed or drove out everyone in his path. His armies were everywhere, by the end. Goblins, devils, wooden soldiers. Hell, they even tried to con me into joining him once. Said no. Helped as many escape through the portals to the mundy realm as I could. Those that made it, well, they're Fabletown."

Something about the idea of a great evil driving people away soundsfamiliar and for one moment Alec is back in his green, back facing the rot. Back in the Gotham sanctuary of rot world...

He's dazed, staring into space but his body is a size bigger then it was, hands at his sides, braced to fight before the Nexus green reaches into his mind with a Come back Alec.

He retreats, shrinks a hair, "...I'm-

Sorry that sounded like something I had to deal with in my world. I think I was...there."

Time for a big ol' Nexus Block party

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