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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"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."

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Not all doors should be opened.

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