nexus_sages | Not all doors should be opened.

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Not all doors should be opened.

The most recent door into the Nexus was, well, a literal door. A rather fancy door, actually: deep mahogany, a brass handle and hinges, and intricate detailing all over. It hovers there, a few feet off the floor, and for a few moments, nothing happens. Just as suddenly as it appeared though, it opened, a yelp heard as a blonde teenager falls through it. "Ow..." Lily Jordan sat up, rubbing her back and adjusting her glasses. "Didn't expect to find that in the manor." She looked up at the floating door before looking back to her surroundings, the brochures catching her eye.

Picking one up, Lily read it over, blue eyes taking in everything before widening some. "Oh dear..." She bit her lip, a fang showing briefly before she walked back to her door. Before she could get within arm's reach, it suddenly, inexplicably slammed shut. Her eyes widened yet again, this time in slight panic as she ran to it, running her hands along the bottom edge, but no dice. "No... No, no, no!" She jumped, but even with her vampiric abilities, she couldn't quite reach the doorknob. She huffed some after a third failed attempt, shaking her head and pulling hair behind her ears. She looked around, patted over her body, but didn't find what she was looking for. Keeping a hand on the bottom of the door, she looked up again. "Hey, um... Does anyone have a knife I can borrow?"

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Jesse's new favourite hobby these days is people-watching, which is a rare thing back home, at least not in such numbers and out in the open like he is. It's especially nice with how he has the reassurance no one's going to pull a gun on him or worse, thanks to the anti-violence field in place.

That being said, it's what makes him wonder why the young lady who just showed up through that weird floating door is asking for a weapon. Not one to ignore a polite request, the cowboy snaps his fingers and gestures at someone further down in the subway entrance he's loitering around. Another zombie that had been sitting on the steps, having heard the request as well, hands him a switchblade. Knife in hand, he moseys over towards the girl.

"You lookin' to pry it open with this? Cuz I think that might just break the thing and we kinda need this back." Jesse holds it out for the girl to take despite this.

Lily blinked, seeing who, by all accounts, looked to be a zombie approach her. Seeing as she had just dealt with a zombie horde not too long ago, she felt apprehensive till he actually spoke. And then she chuckled at his guess she's try to pry it open. "No, nothing like that." She took the blade, etching something into the wood of the door. "The brochure said something about a lack of labels, so I figured I should mark this, just in case." She smiled, wood shavings falling to the floor as she worked.

The blonde was thankful she was still dressed to travel (jeans, sneakers, t-shirt); if she had been in her lounge clothes, she would have died from embarrassment after falling in here.

He watches her work, puffing idly on his cigar, eyebrows raised slightly. He removes the stogie from his mouth to whistle one low, impressed note, then points it at her. "Smart. That's damn smart right there is what that is. Seen folks drop in here and start a'wanderin' about and losin' track of their door. Me 'n my folk, we're lucky we got ourselves an easy one." He jerks his chin back towards the subway entrance he'd approached from. The second zombie is hovering there, watching them, or more accurately watching his knife. The guy looks like he shouldn't be trusted with the things, though; his face is a mess of slash marks.

"I take it the door ain't budgin', though? Seems to happen a lot 'round these parts."

"Yeah. It's shut tight." She finally finished, pulling away. "There we go." It was a simplified version of the emblem for Lemachard manor, meaning Lily would easily recognize it. She closed the blade before handing it back to the man with a smile. "Here you are. And thank you, again, for letting me use it." She looked back to the door. "I just hope this thing opens when I need to get back." She had just taken the serum, so she'd be fine here for a while.

"Where you from?" He takes the switchblade back with a polite nod, tucking it into the back pocket of his dirty jeans. The zombie back at the subway makes a loud, inarticulate noise of frustration, which gets the one dressed as a cowboy to look back and holler, "You just hold yer horses, Cutter, I'm havin' a talk with the young lady!" The guy apparently named Cutter sulks.

Jesse looks back to the blonde girl, chuckling. "Sorry 'bout that. He's just particular about his property."

"It's fine. This guy I know, Scavenger, is a lot like him." Lily nodded, then replied to his first question. "I'm from Lemachard, a small town in New England. And that door is from my house, basically." She pointed at the floating wooden door. "It's a quiet place - usually. Bit busier than I care for, recently."

"Heh, lucky coincidence, since that's just what Cutter is; a scavenger. Best we got too; could find you a holiday ham in a empty gas station." He looks back and gives Cutter a wink and a nod, but the other zombie is still set on just sulking. Shrugging, Jesse focuses back on Lily exclusively now.

"New England? Long way where we started. Clear over on the other coast. 'Course, we're prolly not from the same world and all, unless you got a zed problem." He puffs on his cigar a few times, exhaling the smoke after rolling it around in his mouth for awhile. The thing's pretty strong-smelling, but it's better than smelling the owner of it. Good thing he's so polite or he'd probably be someone to avoid because of it.

"And the door's hooked up to your house? Huh. Hope you ain't got a ma or pa on the other side who's gonna be worried sick about ya!"

Edited 2015-08-11 20:35 (UTC)

"An aunt." Lily nodded. "And she worries sick about me anyway, so that's not really a change." She chuckled, shaking her head. " I've never left Lemachard, so this is the closest I've come to a vacation. It'll be fine. At least, I hope." She shook her head, as if to banish the negative thoughts from her head. "Anyway, what about you?" She looked the zombie over. "You seem to be from the old west, or at least some version of it."

"Hah! Aw, naw, just got a healthy respect for the western look. Came from Seattle originally, 'round the Capital Hill area. Y'all ever been there? Good bars, at least there used to be. My folk come from all over, though; got a bunch from Spokane, Snoqualmie, even some from up in Canada. Someplace called Hope in, uh, British Columbia, I think it was."

Jesse takes another considering drag on his cigar before adding, "Polite lil' lady to ask about where a man's from rather than why he ain't lookin' so alive at the moment."

"Well, I figured that's a sore topic. That and I'm not one to offend someone who offered their help to me." She nodded. "I mean, if you'd want to talk about, I figured you would have. So.. yeah." She nodded, inwardly wincing as teenage awkwardness took hold of her; hard as she tried, she wasn't wholly immune to it.

"Heh, ain't much to tell, I"m afraid. Zed showed up, everything went down, then we did too after gettin' bit. But then we got back up and still had our wits. Grouped up and look for more of our own and called us the Rotten. We stick to the subways so we don't gotta worry about gettin' lumped up and shot at like the usual type of zed.

"Hope you ain't got any type like us back home. Well, the mindless sort, anyhow." Maybe not his sort either, but he's not gonna be self-depreciating in front of a new acquaintance. He's got a tough guy aura to keep up!

"Well, funny you should mention that. A zombie horde attacked my Halloween party. But my friend and I handled them pretty steadily, and everyone thought it was staged." She chuckled nervously. "This is the point where I should mention I'm a vampire - kind of." A sigh escaped the blonde as she pulled her hair back in another futile effort. "It's a long story."

He'd been in the middle of another drag but stops halfway in surprise. If he was living, it would have caused a coughing fit right about there, but instead, he just talks and the smoke leaks from between his missing teeth and his ruined nostrils.

"Vampire? You talkin' blood-suckin' Nosferatu sorta deal?" Then he squints, smirking. "Y'all pullin' my leg here, missy?" Funny that a zombie is skeptical of vampires existing.

"Afraid not. I know I don't look it, but..." She looked around a bit before pulling her upper lip a bit higher. Sure enough, her eyeteeth were not normal, but sharp fangs. After a moment, she let go, smiling faintly. "I don't suck blood, though."

Jesse squints instead now at the teeth, then his bare brows go up, once again surprised and maybe impressed. "Hell," he breathes, then quickly corrects, "I mean, heck." Don't swear in front of ladies! "That's a heck of a thing right there. Y'all get bitten to end up like that? And have somethin' that keeps you from bitin' others? Or that not how it works where you're from?

"Sorry if, uh, any of that is offendin'. Runnin' my mouth with all these questions, heh." He shrugs, sheepish.

Lily laughed. "It's fine, really. The founder of Lemachard, Philip Lemachard, was who turned me. I have a fondness for history, he moved back into his old house, and my curiosity got the better of me. I didn't know he was a vampire then, of course." She moved to take a seat. "He used to be a monster, and terrorized Europe with Sang, the vampire who turned him. When he could no longer live with the guilt of his actions, he left Sang and created Serum V, a medicine that suppresses a vampire's hunger. That's what I take; if I drink human blood, I'll be lost, unable to return to being human."

He listens, polite and nodding occasionally, looking sympathetic. "All I really know about vampires was just from the movies and whatnot. And I got a survivor who's into books about 'em; y'know, the heavin' chest and ripped shirt kind." He says that in a conspiratorial whisper, like said fellow zombie might overhear. "So I don't know a whole lot other than that.

"Feels like we got a lot more in common than we thought, Ms...?"

Lily blinked as she realized she had forgotten to introduce herself. "Oh gosh, my manners. I'm sorry." She smiled, offering a hand. "Lily Jordan. It's nice to meet you."

He looks at her hand, another expression of surprise on his face. And he clearly hesitates, still staring at it while his fingers twitch and he looks uncertain about making contact and returning the gesture. When he finally does, his grip is kind of loose and his skin feels unnaturally dry and cool. He's quick to end the shake after a few pumps of the hand, stuffing both of his fists into his jeans pockets.

"They call me Jesse. Leader of the Rotten, which is to say my gang back there at yonder subway."

"Jesse then." She nodded, committing the name to memory. "That's kind of amazing." She looked to the subway. "I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say it's best I stay away from there? Even though you're currently the only one I know in this place."

He looks back at the entrance he came from; Cutter's gone, probably gone down below to sulk and fuss at losing one of his beloved knives, even if just for the time being. He's not the most rational guy, which lends credence to what Lily's saying.

"Weeelllll...There's this fancy thing in this here place that keeps people from harmin' another body. So no one's gonna hurt you if you get close. And y'all can always swing by and ask for me! But my folk are the skittish kind. I'll let 'em know there's a nice blonde missy who'll treat us fair, but don't take it wrong if they don't warm up right away. We've been...tested before."

He sighs. His poor Rotten.

"Barrin' that, we can still get home through there and we've made sure there ain't gonna be no zed comin' up and makin' a mess here. So don't fret none about that."

"Thanks for putting a good word in. And thank you, for keeping watch. Zed, as you call them, do have a habit of wreaking havoc." She stood again, looking around. "This place... Are there more areas besides this one? Since I'm here, so I might as well explore." She smiled.

Jesse nods, pointing with his cigar in the general direction of other locations. "Know there's a park over yonder; nice place to have a sit, feel some grass. Cafés all over the place; ain't gotten the nerve to try anything at any of 'em yet. Dunno how they'd feel servin' a party of dead folk, is all. M'sure they're fine eatin' anyway."

Another point in another direction. "Residential stuff yonder; guessin' that's for folks who'd rather squat here than live where they came from, or are stuck. Lotta stuck folk lately too." Makes him wonder why he and his aren't! Then again, it was just a matter of following a specific turn in the subway system and here they were.

"No libraries then?" She clucked her tongue a bit. "Shame; some books from other universes might be terribly interesting to read." She was a bookworm to the core, after all. "The cafés might be good places to study, though; I'll bring my homework next time." Lily nodded. "There's only one café in Lemachard, and it's always packed."

"Think I saw a book store or three; I don't tend to wander far from the homestead, I'm afraid. I mean, I could send scouts, but I feel like they'd take even less kind to Cutter than they would me. He ain't the talkin' sort." More the, uh, cutting and yelling sort. But only if they're zed.

"But I've seen a few bodies about with books under their arms; gotta be comin' from somewhere, right?"

"Well, if you ever feel like reading anything in particular, let me know." She nodded, smiling. "I'll be happy to go on a fetch quest for you." Lily was no stranger to helping people out, after all.

"I'll read anything with a cowboy on the cover," he says with a laugh. "Ain't always the readin' type, but I'll take those. Hell, I'll take most anything you got lyin' around cuz I know some of my folks would love to see somethin' fresh in our little library downstairs. Guy was tellin' me just the other day that if he reads one more romance novel, he's gonna pull out his only eye." And it'd be easy too! Since, you know, zombies.

"Let's say you secure a few paperbacks and we'll call it even on the knife-loanin', how bout that?" Jesse give her a wink.

"I definitely have a few of those laying around." Pulling her hair back, Lily smiled, chuckling faintly at the wink. "You've got a deal."

"Not something I often carry." The tatterdemalion was sprawled across the floor, (as all normal people do when faced with the challenge of too many chairs to choose from, or at least contrary people), but he was mildly interested in her fear, sitting up a bit more to observe it, almost to hungrily drink it in. This was why he was never invited to the good parties.

"Why are you in such a hurry to leave? Does it really make any difference where you are? Does anyone care; will you be missed?"

That was an incredibly rude question, but Jonathan didn't seem to care; he'd asked ruder, he supposed.

Lily frowned. "Of course people may care, but I'm certain this is only temporary." She sighed, lowering her hands; thankfully, the door seemed content to hover there and not move. "And I'm not in a hurry; I just have studying to do, is all." Her fear had already subsided as she looked down at the strange man. "Why are you on the floor, anyway? Not a fan of chairs?"

"It's only that you sounded concerned." Okay, he's going to ease back on being an ass, but mostly only because she doesn't seem hostile and he doesn't genuinely want a fight here - antiviolence field or no antiviolence field, he does like the company, on occasion.

"Studying?" Now the interest was real, and he watched her with directness, "Are you in high school? College--? I was a university professor myself, not long ago. Dr. Crane is my name, Dr. Jonathan Crane."

At the reminder that he was on the floor, he looked around, then snorted. "I don't want to give people the impression they can come up and bother me whenever they please. Unusual behavior deters all but unusual people - which, I grant you, is a larger population in this place than I'm accustomed to."

"I'm Lily Jordan." Listening to his explanation, Lily nodded. "I see... As for studying, yes, I'm in high school, junior year. I'm taking a few AP classes though, to get a head start on some college credits." She moved to take a seat; her door wasn't going anywhere, and standing was proving tiresome. "What did you teach?"

"A pleasure." The dynamic is definitely different - if anything he's actively trying to be less creepy, although the jury is out on whether or not it's working.

"You sound industrious, I hope you get what you're after." Learning was the one thing he respected in today's youth. "What are you after?"

"Psychology," As a slightly delayed answer to the question, as if it's not really the real answer but it serves about as well.

"Why a knife?" a child in green and black asks. (There is a magpie with him, but it is imaginary, and only those who perceive imaginary things can see it.)

Lily looked down at the child, smiling. "I was going to mark this door, so I know where to go when I want to head home." She nodded. "In the brochure I read, it said portals were often unmarked, so I figured I should do something." She tilted her head a bit. "Are you here by yourself?"

"Well, that makes sense," he admits, "but why a knife, specifically? Why not a marker, or a pen, or a ribbon?"

He gives a lopsided smile and a half-shrug. "More or less. But that's okay, I'm meant to be studying, and this place is very educational."

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Not all doors should be opened.

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