nexus_sages | Love And Property Damage

[Well that’s one way to make an entrance. Or at least, the aftermath of an entrance. There’s a small, perfectly spherical crater in the ground, tinged at the edges with what looks like purple energy. If someone scans the damage, there appear to be trace amounts of something that could be magic-based energies. Also, ringed around that crater are the tattered remains of a poor and unfortunate couch in the wrong place at the wrong time.]

Added to all that, there’s a young girl perched on another couch nearby. (And this one doesn’t carry any grudges for the untimely destruction of its kin.) She looks just shy this side of dazed and out of it, and the brochure is being held in shaky hands.]

“This is really interesting but… how do I go home? CAN I get home? I’m not sure if-“

[She cuts off on that. Things are still blurry and out of focus, and she can feel a headache building if she focuses too hard. So instead Hotaru rubs at her forehead, and switches tracks.]

"…Maybe I should ask a different question? If that’s okay, um… actually I don’t know what else I should ask. What should I ask about?”

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There's a man skulking along the edge of the Nexus, doing his best to avoid the crowds. He has a pistol at the ready.

Jesse hears the question and hazards a red-eyed, panicked glance at the speaker. This was entirely a mistake. As his eyes linger on the woman, the more his face takes on a look of mixed torment and pity.

"It's okay. It'll all be over soon," he soothes as he raises his gun, training it on the newcomer. Whoa. That seems a little extreme!

(( Jesse was fear-LOL'd here and is hallucinating like, a lot. ))

Even allowing for dimensional voids and beating monsters at card games, there are limits to what all Hotaru can roll with. Guns getting pointed at her go well and beyond that category. For lack of a better option, she raises her hands up and shows that there's nothing in them.

"Excuse me," (that seems like the best way to start this conversation without getting shot) "but I think there might be a mistake? I don't think the gun needs to be pointed at anyone-"

...She cuts out and wobbles a little where she sits. That's weird; it's like she just got a combination of head rush and deja vu.

Jesse takes a cautious step back when she raises her arms, but maintains his steady aim. He hates when they can still talk and plead. "Don't make this harder than it has to be. I know you're suffering, but there's no going back now!"

Welcome to the Nexus, Hotaru!

~~It's such an emotional welcoming, too.~~

"But I'm not hurting. I'm fine-"

Why does this feel so familiar? In the back of her head there's echoes of looking at... not a gun, but something just as dangerous. A breath of hot air, or a cool almost drowning sensation as someone yells out an attack.

She's been in this situation before. But this time around she feels weirdly exposed, like she lost whatever was shielding her the first time around.

"I-I need to warn you not to do this." She feels weirdly detached as she says that, too.

Jesse's perception of the Nexus swims sickeningly and the illusory mutant lined up in his sights shifts. Its skin recedes, revealing a woman for a split second before it snaps back into place.

This crack in the hallucination is enough to make his gun arm sway uncertainly. There's a strong smell of alcohol about him. Maybe he's just very drunk?

"W-why shouldn't I?" Is the stammering related to drunkenness, or is he actually afraid?

It feels more and more like she's watching someone else speak as this goes on, like Hotaru herself is a passive observer who is just moving her lips along to what she's hearing. Plus taking a back seat as more vivid memories start bubbling to the surface.

Amazing what staring down the barrel of a gun will do for your recall.

"Because... I remember being attacked before. It didn't work for the people or things threatening me." There's a roar of blood in her ears to back up what she's saying. Her body still feels weirdly fragile, like it's reaching for something but can't quite grasp whatever it needs.

"You should leave instead."

Jesse, gathering resolve, forces himself to actually focus on the thing in front of him, taking in the very convincing details of the illusion. This close scrutiny is probably not very polite, but it's happening all the same.

Maybe it's the distance he's putting between himself and the mysterious analyst's desk, but a soothing logic is beginning to chip away at the dark veneer. Wels in the Nexus? Something about that doesn't make sense.

His gun arm finally falls to his side. For once in his life, Jesse doesn't shoot first and ask questions later. Or he just remembered the anti-violence field through his fear-addled state.

"Fine. So long as you don't hurt anyone."

Hotaru gives a slow, deliberate nod. No need to harm anyone or anything right now, something in the back of her head affirms.

"I won't. I don't need to."

The gun is moving away from her. Once it does Hotaru feels a slow shudder start to build up her back. Maybe that's just her body's own way of reminding her she's still breathing and without any holes in her. Though with it, that detached and vaguely brave feeling is starting to rush out of her in a cold sweat.

It'd be awesome if she can stand straight long enough for Jesse to move away. Then she can see about collapsing on the couch and shuddering the rest of this out.

Love And Property Damage

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