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

[lionofthelight]

Zandros' bloodied face is already swelling from that punch, and a few minutes from now the pain of a broken nose is really going to sink in, but right now he's got his opponent on his back and he's not going to miss his chance to get his win.

He follows after Jim and drops to his knees to get on top of him and pin him down. One more punch, one more strike to the face, that's all he really needs! One blow to assure his victory.

[heirtothedragonsfire]

"Don't. You. Dare!" Zandros may go to punch, but if he does he'll find his fist bouncing back, sending veins of purple light streaking across a magical shield.

From the moment Jim put his hand on hers everything had spiralled out of control. A fistfight was the last thing she'd expected. Some heated words, or a tense stand off, but not a fistfight. So she had stumbled back, shock plastered across her face while she watched them exchange blows. That's when the cold dread and embarrassment had started to trickle down through her.

Now she storms towards them, hand outstretched to keep the shield in place, and glares at Zandros. "Get up," she snaps. "Get up right now." She tilts her head so that her sharp green eyes can better bore into his. "What do you think you're doing? This isn't a duel, it isn't respectable. This is barbaric."

[lionofthelight]

Hitting that magical shield is more painful than striking the bones in Jim's face. Zandros gasps as his hand collides with the magic and immediately doubles over with his fist in his other hand, sucking air in through his teeth as he fights away the pain. And under all of it is Isidor's voice. Not just that, but her incredible judgement.

But rather than rise up he remains on his knees, hands against his chest, face twisted in a grimace. It's more than the physical pain. It's the shame of it all.

From a crack in the crowd Harrowheart appears, elbowing past people and wrapping his hands to his wrists as he shouts, "Zandros, what the fresh Hell are you doin'?"

He stomps forward to where the two men are on the ground. He hardly gets a half a second to process the bloody sight before he realizes he's looking Jim in the face for the first time in months. His angry scowl cracks, twists up into guilt and confusion... And then with a sigh he extends an arm to the captain. "Come on, man," he softly mutters, "Let's get you on up. Flat in the dirt ain't a good look for a man like you."

Zandros, meanwhile, lifts his head to Isidor. A broken nose, bruising eye, and the blood dripping from the tips of his hair don't well match the proper appearance he joined the party with today. "What am I doing?" he asks her -- and himself -- aloud.

He hangs his head, lets his hair and blood flow downward.

Zandros knows the answer to his own question. "Behaving like a beast."

Harrowheart, standing near, gives both Jim and Isidor a wide-eyed look of curiosity and incredulity. What the Hell is going on here?

[smartass_captain]

Every intake of breath comes in a painful wheeze from where Jim is laying underneath Zandros. Wide blue eyes seem to flicker with the magical shield between the two men but this in fact just a trick of the light. The starship captain doesn't have a lick of magic in him, an entirely mundane man laying in the entirely mundane dirt. Damp with the spilled coffee and cut from the shattered pieces of the ceramic mug he'd fallen on.

Insofar as fights go this one is shaping up to be at least less damaging than most Jim's involved in. He has a very bad habit of getting the crap kicked out of him. It isn't until Harrowheart's voice cuts through the shocked murmurs of the crowd gathered around them that Jim sucks in a breath suddenly and has to wince in pain because of it. He can't fight his friend too right now, but there is no accusation thrown Jim's way.

Just an outstretched hand from a friend he hasn't seen in months.

The captain takes the proffered help and stumbles to his feet none too gracefully. His gaze flits between Zandros's bowed head, to Isidor, and then to Harrow. He doesn't know whether they're telling the truth or Isidor's story anymore but he really hopes it doesn't end with him getting hit again or worse.

"Thanks man."

[heirtothedragonsfire]

Seeing Zandros wince in pain after hitting her shield gives Isidor the smallest shred of satisfaction. One which quickly vanishes in the wake of a familiar voice.

The crowd parts for Harrowheart and she feels the blush on her cheeks. Here she is, standing beside a kneeling, bloody Zandros on top of a battered Jim. This is... not what she would have hoped Harrowheart would see today if they crossed paths. She ducks her head away from his gaze, thoroughly embarrassed. She knows all too well this scene is because of her. It's a heap of pettiness and childish antics. She didn't want Harrowheart to see this.

She turns back to Zandros and lowers her voice. "It..." Her teeth clench as she prepares herself for more unexpected outbursts. "It had been a small joke. Holding his arm like that. I didn't think you'd hurt him." Her eyes flit around them. "I didn't think you could here."

Slowly, bracing herself for what's to come next, Isidor turns to Jim to apologise. Stepping close and keeping her voice low she says, "I'm sorry. I didn't expect any of this to happen. The anti-violence field could have at least made an appearance..." She frowns at him. "Do you want me to get you a healer?"

[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...

[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?

[smartass_captain]

Truthfully, most of the blood on Jim isn't his own but Zandros' from where his bloodied nose was dripping all over him while they were entangled on the ground. The captain is more battered than bloody but no one would be amiss in wondering if he was concussed because of the sheer gaping shock on his face that keeps him wide eyed and quiet while Harrowheart leads Zandros off.

Leaves him alone with Isidor. For all of about a second before another familiar voice is cutting through the crowd. Jim turns too slowly for Felix's liking and his jaw is soon in the Imperial's hand along with his shoulder. Urged to look at his own fiance instead of the 'no seriously what the fuck' scene in front of him.

"Felix..?" Reality is creeping back to the surface. Reminding Jim of where he is and that this has probably drawn quite a bit of attention. Whether it's a good idea or not he pushes back from the Imperial just a bit so he can turn and look at Isidor again. "They're not friends, right?"

There's no way Zandros knows anything if he was accusing Jim of being involved with Isidor. But that still leaves so many unanswered questions. When he does turn back to Felix again it's with that same unsteady confusion on his own face. "I was helping Isidor."

[heirtothedragonsfire]

That laughter. It takes all of Isidor's energy not to join Harrowheart. The whole concept is ridiculous, and it feels so good to see him laughing while Zandros looks so defeated. Instead she stands there, keeping her composure, save for a single arched eyebrow at Harrowheart's comment.

Before she can comment, Zandros is begging Harrowheart to take him away and all she can do is stand and watch forlornly as they leave. Why couldn't he have left Harrowheart?

Her thoughts are elsewhere when Felix arrives, and she barely notices his deferential nod to her. While his appearance isn't ideal, Zandros and Harrowheart both leaving are more concerning to her. Besides, it wasn't as if she hasn't had to learn to be in the same vicinity as the mage since they last properly met.

Taking a deep breath, she turns to focus on the two of them. "My new fiancé. He made assumptions about Jim and I. When I joked about it Jim got caught in the crossfire."

[conjuredskies]

Isidor’s fiancé? Jim did bring that up the other day, didn’t he? Just a passing remark, brought up out of sheer disbelief. Felix hadn’t been paying full attention that late at night, but he should have remembered as soon as he saw Isidor tolerating such familiarity from a man. He’d kick himself if he didn’t have other concerns.

“Assumptions… a touch paranoid, is he?” He doesn’t need to give Jim that look – he can guess exactly what kind of assumptions a high-strung nobleman might make here. And yet he’s torn between incredulity and irritation because how in Oblivion would anyone think that likely? Jim is spoken for, thank you kindly, and cool, calculated Isidor isn’t even the type to appreciate him properly. Felix calls to mind the nobleman’s face, and there’s a hard twist to his mouth for a moment before his exasperation focuses on Jim. “And what, you were defending her honor?”

[smartass_captain]

A surge of real irritation pulses through Jim. It manifests in the way he bites he inside of his cheek to keep from saying something he'll regret aloud. The clench of his free hand into fist at his side. The honed edge his gaze takes on. Do they think Jim didn't know where this was going to end up?

He chose to get hit to stand up for Isidor and by proxy for Harrowheart. Since Zandros' incorrectly placed Jim in that position instead of the right man to be jealous of, a man who was not there to defend himself or his relationship with Isidor. A man who quite possibly can't if the pieces Jim's seen of this fiasco line up to form the larger picture he thinks it does.

"She doesn't need me to defend her anything, least of all her honor." He doesn't brush Felix aside completely but he does jerk his head away so it's not locked in Felix's grip. "But she did look like she could sorely use a friend when I arrived." If anyone's honor needed defending, it was Harrowheart's. Not that Jim is ready to admit to that just yet. Things are still fragile and weird between the two. "I knew what I was doing."

And where it would get him.

[heirtothedragonsfire]

Today is a day of nerves on rapid fire. Every time someone says something that could offend her something else is said to alleviate any hard feelings. Though a part of her is glad Jim says she doesn't need defending, part of her wonders. With this situation she's finding herself increasingly unable to do much at all.

"And I'm very grateful for it," she insists, both polite and firm. With a sigh she lets her shoulders sag and lowers her voice. "If I had to spend the entire afternoon alone with him at this event I think I'd..." She catches herself, clearing her throat and looking back between Felix and Jim. "I'm glad you came over. I'm just sorry you got hit for it."

[conjuredskies]

Felix gives Jim a hard look when the latter jerks away, but his annoyance is disarmed by Isidor's courteous gratitude. No matter if it angers him, if he were an honest man he'd admit openly that Jim probably did the right thing. In Felix's mind he always does.

That doesn't make him less irritated. It just means his irritation gets directed elsewhere.

He eyes Isidor for a second. He's completely out of the loop on whatever situation has been brewing here. He keeps a hand on Jim's shoulder, and gestures from the three of them to the bar. "Perhaps we should move. I need to see to Jim, and since you're free for a few moments now, Miss Durant..."

He wants to get Jim cleaned up, and he wants to hear all about this strangely obnoxious suitor of hers.

[smartass_captain]

That's a very good idea. Jim doesn't have to have any kind of special powers to feel the firey gaze of one Officer Suou glaring daggers at him from wherever he's stuck playing the good host in the thick of this otherwise lovely party. He just knows it's going to be another point of argument between them going forward but frankly Jim doesn't have it in him to care right now.

If he does much more arguing Felix is going to be really cross at him if that hand on his shoulder is anything to go by.

"I'm fine." It's probably not the best thing to say but old habits are hard to break. "Could use a drink though." At that his gaze also turns to Isidor. He's got plenty of questions himself but he doesn't think asking them until they're at a quieter place will do much more than upset her. Maybe a small corner table somewhere out of sight of the party.

"C'mon. If he comes back, he'll be hard pressed to find you at this little get together if we go kick back for a bit."

[heirtothedragonsfire]

"Of course." Isidor's lips press into a polite smile and she claps her hands together. "Lead the way."

With Zandros out of sight she's not as concerned about taking control and finding the perfect hiding spot. Besides, the least she can do is buy Jim a drink. She can afford to pay for Felix's too. The last thing she wants to do is annoy Jim by offending his fiancé.

Truth be told, she's glad to head in to the bar and get out of the crowd. It's bad enough that Jim got hurt, but having so many people staring and whispering about the commotion sets her on edge. Once they're settled she orders a beer and then allows herself the smallest sigh of relief.

[conjuredskies]

Felix picks them a spot at the quieter end of the bar, somewhere it'll be easier to hear one another speak without being interrupted by other people's orders. He's not asking for a drink just yet- rather he asks for some warm water and a clean cloth. He gets wipes instead, since Katsuya's idea of a first aid kit is slightly more advanced than his. Either way, Jim barely gets a chance to sip his drink before Felix is tugging him to look at the conjurer and get his face cleaned.

"So, would either of you mind telling me about this over-excitable suitor?" The irritation seems to have left his voice, and he just sounds idly curious. He gives Isidor a glance. "Strictly between ourselves, of course. I feel like the the bard who's stumbled in halfway through the second set."

[smartass_captain]

You know, it doesn't matter if it's before or after noon yet. A beer sounds more than fine right about now. Not liquored enough to really bother him from just one, but enough to soften the edges on what has been an incredibly stressful mornin--mmmf!

Or he'll just leave the beer there and watch Felix for a while. That's fine too. Everyone likes not ice cold beer, right?

"I only met him once before the other day. He was asking folks about sleeping habits and talking about his betrothed this and the Light that and I just about lost my cool when he said he was engaged to Isidor." He can't really turn his head to look at the woman sitting with them now, but he gestures vaguely at her with one hand to make the point anyway. He's pretty sure Harrowheart and her are still a secret so he doesn't say why he about lost it. That much is pretty self evident to those in the Know.

"All I said was that I found it hard to believe he was engaged to her, and next thing I know he's acting like we're cavorting around in secret every other minute."

[heirtothedragonsfire]

Like most things associated with the strong and authoritarian, Isidor found herself naturally acclimatising herself to numerous kinds of alcohol. Beer is not her favourite by a long shot, but it's enjoyable enough and doesn't risk a repeat of Halloween while helping her to de-stress.

She presses her lips tightly when Felix turns to her, but Jim is more than happy to sate the mage's curiosity and Isidor is let off the hook. Besides, it's good for her to hear about Jim's first meeting with him. It's all potential fuel for later.

Hearing someone else talk about Zandros and their engagement makes her feel queasy, though. Her gaze slides off to a far off point and glazes over. "I never pegged him as the jealous type... I'll talk to him. He had a wife before me, after all, he can't be allowed to go throwing punches because of perceived past relationships."

[conjuredskies]

Felix's hands are brisk and sure as he cleans Jim's cuts and washes smears of blood away to find the bruises. Almost like they've done this a dozen times before. Maybe two dozen.

"He's a religious sort?" Felix is pretty hazy on Earth religions besides what he saw at the Durant manor. 'The Light' sounds religious though. And not the fun kind of religion, with masks and heavy drinking. The boring kind, with sermons and repentance.

"Where on N- Earth did your family find him, Isidor?" He can only shoot her the odd look while working on Jim, but she doesn't look nor sound at all enthused by her engagement.

[smartass_captain]

"Most of th'bruises are on my side and chest. He got me there pretty good."

Pretty good enough to knock the captain flat on his ass, more like. Jim's side hurts with every breath but he's had much worse than that before. Still if he doesn't tell Felix the other will poke and probe at him until he's sessed it out and that will make for awkward table conversation very quickly.

When Felix lefts go of Jim's face he does take a sip of his drink before setting it between them so Felix can have some since he's not ordering his own just yet. Gives Isidor a long once over.

"He's not from Earth." And what the hell is up with that, anyway? How does he know Harrowheart? "He's not related to Harrow, is he?" Not some nobleman like that. There's no way.

[heirtothedragonsfire]

This time Isidor turns to Felix when he asks his questions. She hadn't realised how reluctant she was to talk about it until now. Talking about it is necessary, of course. If she ignores her situation like Viatorus then she'd end up the same way, halfway down the aisle with a stranger on her arm. A stranger she didn't choose.

Jim's question gets a wrinkled nose and a shake of her head. "Definitely not."

Then, with a sigh, she straightens out her expression and looks to Felix again. "His name is Zandros Alter. He's a knight commander from Azeroth. My family wants to make ties with that world, and to be honest I don't think the Archon wants to have to deal with any of the most eligible families on my world. Too much history, too many ulterior motives."

"By all accounts, Zandros is a perfectly suitable solution," she says with a heavy sigh and then punctuates her explanation with a swig of her drink. Gods she needed that...

[conjuredskies]

Good thing Felix is turned away from Isidor, so she can't see the little face he pulls when Jim asks if Zandros and Harrowheart are related. He gives a 'hmm' in answer to Jim's information, but only when the wipes are set aside does he sit back and lift his eyebrows at Jim. "All right, let me see. I want to know how bad it is."

Sitting back like this he can pay proper attention to Isidor, and her words bring a sudden wave of understanding.

"A knight," he echoes. "Well, that explains it. They're almost all horrible romantics." He considers, and listens, and casts a glance aside at Isidor. "Perfect by everyone's account...?"

[smartass_captain]

"If he's had a wife before now you'd think he'd know how to trust someone a little bit and have some respect for their ability to have friends they're not screwing."

Jim's grumble is quiet and mostly under his breath. He wouldn't have even picked a fight with Zandros if the man hadn't decided all on his own Jim must be fucking Isidor just because he was surprised she'd be giving him the time of day. The captain my not like the knight but he's well versed in keeping his mouth more or less shut in diplomatic situations.

"It's not like they could know about any reason Isidor'd have for them not to match her up with the guy. We've met them." Thought at least one man would burn him at the stake for saying he was a plus one to a man at Viatorus' engagement. "They don't strike me as the open minded type when it comes to personal relationships."

He looks away from his drink and between Felix and Isidor when his fiance asks about his bruises. No way, no how is he taking off his shirt in public after everything that just went down. Oh yeah no. Jim's not seeing Isidor he just walks around half naked all the time. But Felix still looks about half a second away from snapping at Jim again and Isidor isn't turning lethal at the mention of it. God, he's so tired of damage control today. Not to mention other reasons he'd really not do this right now.

"Can it...wait? It's not that bad--" Even as he's saying it Jim knows he's said the wrong thing. Much as it irks him to have people fussing over him he also knows his track record for trying to brush off injuries as not a big deal is kind of on him. He relents and tugs up the left side of his shirt just a little so Felix can take a peek if he insists.

[heirtothedragonsfire]

Isidor raises an eyebrow and nails Felix with a Look. Really, he shouldn't need to ask that question.

When she goes to break her gaze and look at Jim only to find him pulling up his shirt, she rolls her eyes all the way back to Felix. "It makes sense. He's a reputable bachelor with land, a title, magical ability, connections to all kinds of people. Elves, dragons... His family isn't so powerful that they can strongarm mine, and we can both help each other."

She sighs and takes another sip of her drink. "And he seems to be nothing but honourable. Apart from this little incident he's been..." Her wrinkling up her nose says everything. "Perfect. Polite, romantic, noble. It's weird, honestly. If he wasn't also entitled I'd think they made him out of plastic."

[conjuredskies]

Felix's expression relents a bit at Jim's pleading - not that he believes Jim about his injuries. But the nagging voice in the back of his head is asking him just what he plans to do after he sees the damage.

He's still quick to lean over and examine what he can see of the bruising, one hand reaching out to prod delicately and check it is just bruising. He seems distracted. More than such a minor injury deserves. He misses Isidor's pointed look completely, and it takes him a few moments to drag himself back to her description.

Zandros does sound perfect. Felix knows that no suitor is a guaranteed bet - sometimes prospective couples simply don't take to each other. Even in aristocratic marriages with all their weighty concerns and traditions, that's sometimes enough to scuttle the entire venture. At least where the families are kind or wise enough to back down. A genuinely poor match tends to sour over time, and that just invites trouble in the long run.

That said, he's sort of at a loss as to why Isidor doesn't like this fellow. Did Zandros approach with too much presumption? An overbearing manner that has the proud Durant's hackles up? He could probably teach the man how to repair that. If he wanted to. After all, for Felix's purposes it doesn't matter what the 'right' thing is. It's what his own friends want. Isidor isn't exactly a friend, but in this situation?

Close enough.

"Hmm. I understand. That's a match I expect your family would be sore to lose." Which makes this marginally more delicate, if only because Felix doesn't want the elder Durants to get the idea he ever interfered with their goals. Oh and Isidor would suffer, too. "He might even be a tolerable ally, if they were to find some fault with him to put them off this marriage business. Who knows? I've known a few perfectly respectable noble boys to get caught drunk and naked in the most inappropriate places."

What, he's probing for without asking, would Isidor like to happen to the man?