nexus_sages | (no subject)

"It is my understanding," offers a light but somewhat raspy voice belonging to a white-scaled lizard man in shining armor, "that this place occurs by natural happenstance, more than any known being's deliberate agency. If I might ask, what manner of book employs a net?"

That... doesn't really sink in. Asta stares at the lizard-man with an expression of surprise. (And maybe a tinge of awe, because holy shit, this is awesome.) She at least has manners enough to try and look like she wasn't just staring.

"It's, uh, my computer. I mean, it's not as beefy as a desktop, but it's easier to carry." A beat while she averts her eyes. "-If that means anything to you, uh, mister. Ma'am? Sir?"

The lizard-man takes her staring with aplomb, blinking pink eyes mildly. "I have heard this word, 'computer,'" he admits, "but I know little of what one is. More portable than a desk, apparently," he concludes with a quiet chuckle.

"I take it the world from which you come has no great abundance of Argonians?"

"Lighter, but they don't have as powerful insides." We now pause while Asta beats feet back through the portal. When she returns, there's a teal-colored laptop tucked under her arm. She holds it out with a bashful little smile.

"No Argonians, not as far as I know." Her smile goes lopsided, almost teasing. "Not unless you're all disguised as politicians or something," she adds with a laugh.

"That might depend on the desk," the knight muses, perhaps thinking of power in different terms. The young lady seems quite excitable, though, dashing about so swiftly.

The politician joke goes over his head, not even grazing those frills on its way. "Why would we be disguised?"

"It's a- never mind. Long story." Duly noted: no jokes about lizard people secretly ruling the world. "There'd be a kerfluffle if any of you, uh, Argonians were around. So... yeah!"

Asta chuckles weakly before flipping her notebook open and powering it up. Then she pauses as a thought come to her. "Hey. Y' wanna see?"

His brow-ridges furrow, but he works out what kerfluffle must mean from the context. "Then I am pleased to meet you. I am called Shade-Seeker."

The glowing screen catches his eye, and the offer to watch gets an intrigued rumble. "Please, if you do not mind."

"Asta. Hey." Because that's how friendships start: with introductions!

She chuckles at his interest before turning the screen so he can watch. "See this thing here? I move my hand around on this square and it tells it where to go." One click, and she's pulled up a huge chunk of text. "Oh, uh, don't read that. That's, uh, a future story. Still gotta fill some holes in it."

Mostly because her source for it came down with a bad case of Ow, Somebody Sucked Out All My Blood. Tends to happen.

Pink eyes follow her movements and the events on the screen with interest, and it's difficult not to read what is there when she asks. "Oh? I have done some piecing-together of stories, myself. What is it about?"

"Uh, er, it's, uh, kind of awkward to explain. See, this is out in Santa Barbara, right, and, uh, well, there's this..." Asta trails off after a moment of quiet mumbling. Then she quickly closes the draft and laughs sheepishly. "It's gonna be my big break, if I ever get it done!"

"May you achieve good things with it," he offers by way of encouragement. "But forgive me, it was not my intent to pry."

"Pika?" If she looks down - lower than that - Asta will see that by her feet is a foot tall, yellow mouse with tall, rabbit-like ears. Pikachu's ears twitched curiously, head tilted. He hops around her to inspect her, then tries to hop onto a nearby chair so he could peer at her notebook. What symbols were those? The portal behind her looked like it opened into some sort of office - something Pikachu was almost completely unfamiliar with.

"Pi?"

Is that-?

She looks down. Way down. Down by her feet. And there's no mistaking that particular silhouette for anything other than what it is. Asta squeals in delight, kneeling down to look at Pikachu. "Oh my God! I would so tell the guys if they wouldn't think I'm nuts!" She reaches out to prod gingerly at one of Pikachu's ears. "Oh, you are so dang cute!"

Well...this was new. Pikachu had been praised for his agility, his strength in battle, his rare electrical voltage-! But cuteness, not so much. He heard it from the crowd every now and then but the Smash tournament wasn't exactly a beauty contest.

When his ear is prodded, he twitches it again on instinct. Then reaches out to touch her face. Since they were just poking each other.
"Pikachu?"

It's real. It's real and it's poking her cheeks. Asta squeals again, at an even higher register. "Ohhhhh man." She reaches out towards Pikachu and prods one of its cheeks. Then she recoils like she just got zapped by static electricity. (Which she probably did.)

"Ow! Ooh, stingy. Won't do that again."

He recoiled slightly at the high squeal. He hadn't heard a sound like that before! Not even as a Pichu.

"Pi!" Apparently his cheeks are sensitive to poking. He gives a displeased squeak and rubs his red cheek. Looking at her quizzically, he runs off on all fours. But he soon returned with a pamphlet in his mouth. Standing up, he transferred it to a hand and held it up to her. Most people seemed to read these things when they came here, so it should help her!

Asta's kyrptonite: cute things.

She takes the pamphlet, but tucks it under her arm instead of reading it. She'll read it later. Then scan it and put it up on the network for the wider world to see! (And promptly get told what a terrible job at Photoshop she did.)

"Aaw, thanks, little guy! -Girl? -Whichever."

Pikachu smiled and nodded, then hopped up upon a nearby chair, peeking at her notes. He could normally read somewhat but her handwriting was terrible.

"Pika?" He tried jumping onto her shoulder, to see if they made better sense from her point of view. Nope, still looked very scribbly. "Pika pi?" He pointed at her notes, asking for an explanation.

"Dunno. Haven't checked the local Net myself...not that my auspex is that good at pickin' shit up anyways," utters a distracted feminine voice coming from a woman. She looks like a stereotypical martial artist with her sea green gi and lack of shoes. She also doesn't look stereotypical at all due to the purple scales and glowing yellow eyes, currently scrunched up in thought.

"Maybe I should check that. Might have tips on how to run the damn thing...." she mutters mostly to herself, somewhat distracted by her own 1st Sphere Problems to actively notice the newcomer's reactions to everything.

Said reaction is one of stunned disbelief. Asta stares. Rubs her eyes for a moment. Stares again. Then, ever-so-slowly, she starts scribbling in her notebook. "Oh wow. Uh, okay. So no free Wi-Fi, then." It sounds weak even to her own ears. There's a brief, almost awkward pause while she tries to look anywhere else.

Then, with a huff of air, she bites the bullet. "You're, uh, scaly. That's kind of cool."

You might as well have been speaking in tongues, Asta, because Iphigenia here doesn't understand what you just said.

"What's your connection?" she asks, puzzled. "I mean, what does that mean?"

Here, have a Bronze Age princess, dressed in blue and raising an eyebrow at the newcomer.

Edited 2015-10-02 22:42 (UTC)

"My connection's my connection. You know, Wi-Fi. Come on, how-" Oh. Faux pas. Way to go, Asta, you stuck your foot in your mouth. She instantly stops mid-sentence, eyebrows raised up to her hairline.

"Uh, it's a thing. A thing that lets you talk to people through the air." There. That's much smoother.

"...Like the gods?" Well, this is certainly strange. She's still perplexed and her brow furrows a little as she tries to make sense of it.

"Oh man, y'all got internet? I can't remember the last time I saw a workin' network what weren't just a closed circuit. If it works, lemme know. I got a mess o' zombies who'd love to see some cat videos again."

The use of the word zombies might clue Asta in to what this guy is; he sure looks undead, and dressed and drawling like a cowboy to boot.

She's busy scribbling in her notebook until that one word. Zombies. That actually gets her to look up, mildly alarmed. "Wait, what? You gotta be kidding me. They're real? There's no way that-"

Dead quiet. She's... noticed by now. Big time. The color drains right out of her face. There's a long pause. Then, weakly: "...You don't want my brain, it's all gamy?"

"Don't believe the hype, miss, brains is overrated." He tips his hat while giving the lady a broad, gap-toothed smile. "I ain't hurtin' no one, don't fret. My momma taught me better than to go bitin' folks. I'm just a poor boy who's got a mild case o' death."

"That's more than a mild case, bro." Who's master of the obvious? She is, she is! But at least he's not trying to eat her. The hat-tip gets an almost sheepish nod in return. "Promise not to leech off my Wi-Fi too much and you got a deal. -About the cat videos, I mean!"

"Hey, I'm still walkin' and talkin'. Death's usually a lil' more severe than that, don't ya think?" Jesse shrugs and stuffs his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

"Sounds good to me. Lemme know how the test goes and if it works here in the Nexus or not. Gotta get my me-me fix, y'hear." Oh gosh, he pronounced it 'me-me'. He has no clue.

Oh, you precious summer child. Asta can't answer at the moment; she's come down with a bad case of the giggles. So bad, in fact, that there are tears in her eyes when she finally stops. "Woo, oh man, I needed that," she chokes out. "It's not me-me, man, it's all one word. 'Meme'. Man, that's what my dad calls 'em!"

She retreats back through the portal, returning after a moment with a banged-up netbook tucked under one arm. (Hey, you try keeping electronics intact when you're being chased by a monster. It ain't easy.) She cracks her knuckles and powers the tiny thing on. "If this works, then you're welcome to all the cat macros you can stand."

"Meme? That don't make sense. It's two mes together. C'mon, don't mess with me." Truly, Jesse is a man sheltered from nerd and internet culture.

When the lady retreats and returns, Jesse cranes his neck to wait and hear the verdict. "It'll be neat to see if this works cuz what else will it work with? Will stuff like magic or electricity be seepin' through other portals? Could explain why this place is so wild."

"Probably not, ma'am." There's a police officer checking his phone nearby, who raises a bit of an eyebrow at the energetic woman's sudden entrance into the Nexus.

She's certainly taking it better than most.

"And, fair warning, the doors do sometimes close on people."

Oh shit. It's the cops. Or a cop. It's like a lightswitch somewhere got flipped. Asta instantly shoves her notes in her pocket and folds her arms in a painful attempt at nonchalance. All the scene needs is some innocent whistling.

"Oh. I'll keep that in mind, uh, officer," she chirps. "But, y'know, I kinda hope it doesn't. At least not while I'm on this side." A beat. "Uh, is this permanent? Like, am I out one front closet now, or...?"

Katsuya's seen that look before. Hundreds of times. And sometimes on his younger brother. That gets a scowl. Remembering his brother, not the woman's antics. He holds his hands up in a surrendering gesture.

"I can assure you ma'am, so long as you're not looking to harm anyone here, the Nexus is quite out of my jurisdiction. As far as your door is concerned, I would need to point you in the direction of one of our resident portal experts, as I'm only vaguely aware of how they operate."

She wouldn't see him immediately. He was on the opposite side of her particular entrance into the Nexus. If it was facing North, he was South of it. This means that Katsuya would see Steve coming, though.

"Outside of my jurisdiction as well," remarks a certain other peace officer, walking into view. Interdimensional Multicultural Law Enforcement Tag Team is a go! The policeman in blue nods to the policeman in the suit. "Katsuya-san. Kon'nichiwa, tomodachi. [Katsuya. Hello my friend.]"

He turns to Asta. "~~AY GURL COME GIMME A HUG!~~ Hello, ma'am. Officer Steve Austin," he nods, indicating it's his name.

At least it isn't as hostile a reaction as Tatsuya might have. There's no glaring, no scowling. Just one young lady pretending very busily to not be snooping on things she really shouldn't be poking around in. Not... that she can play innocent about the Nexus. Kind of hard to.

"I'm not gonna harm anybody," she mutters. "I just wanna write about it, see what the guys might think. Drum up some readership." When the second officer arrives? Well, that gets an outright baffled reaction. She raises her eyebrows at Officer Austin.

"LAPD? Geez, we're both a long way from home."

~~No hugs. the last one was murder on her ribs.~~

Curiosity isn't illegal, and she does have an interdimensional portal where her front closet used to be. Sort of within her rights to check it out, considering the doorway is inside her own home.

But hey, it's that totally normal officer Katsuya met in the Nexus the other day! The much slighter Katsuya smiles and nods in way of greeting Austin's way.

"As he said, my name is Katsuya Suou. And all I would point out if you're going to alert your world that this doorway is here is that they should know that sometimes these doors shut on people, and you wouldn't want your readers stranded here, would you?" For one thing, they couldn't read her articles if they were!

He raises an eyebrow, wondering if Asta is a citizen of the LAPD's concern, and distantly if he needs to murder her. The good Officer Steve seems to agree with Katsuya's warning, though. "I was never able to find mine again, after I passed through it." He crosses his arms, all police-intimidatingly, taking up a position next to his dear old buddy Katsuya. "So, are you some sort of journalist?"

She merely smiles at them, the very picture of innocence. Good cop, ~~killer robot~~bad cop doesn't really work on someone who's innocent, Officer Steve. Nice try, though. "Nah, I'm not worried," She shrugs one shoulder in answer to Katsuya's question. "I'm not gonna, like, scream it from the rooftops or something. I still have a lot to learn first!"

"And nah, I'm not a reporter." She wrinkles her nose at the thought. "There's too much schmoozing and politics in that. I'm a blogger. You know. Freelance." The only way to be, really, when you're writing about things that can and will kill you at the drop of a dime. Things a lot scarier than any cop. "Not... that it means much. I barely get any hits."

"I have a friend that is contemplating a similar action back home." Katsuya thinks that Asta might like Ms. Amano if the two intrepid journalists ever happened to cross paths. Maya would know an awful lot about writing about things that can get you killed.

Rumors are scary in Sumaru, after all. He does give a curious glance Austin's way though. No need to be quite so intimidating there, chief. But, well. If he was still stuck here in the Nexus, that means he wasn't able to continue his mission. That would be understandably upsetting to anyone. Poor john. Katsuya hopes he's okay.

"She does find the bureaucracy of her job rather tiresome." And considering her boss, that is the nicest phrasing Katsuya can use, there. "Ah, that reminds me, aside from the worry of a portal shutting, the forum area of the Nexus is safe. there is a field in place that prevents any kind of violence on its denizens."

Which of course Officer Austin knows about already because he is totally normal.

Edited 2015-10-02 23:41 (UTC)

"Yep. Supposedly, there's no need to fear," he affirms. "Although, I can't say for sure." The lying bastard could say for sure, because he had tried to turn a little boy named Connor into a pincushion, near here. No dice. There might yet still be other ways of getting someone to the afterlife, but it hadn't been a priority for him to test it.

Speaking of alternate paths, though. "If your portal does close, however, there are options." He's still watching her like a hawk. It's human, and expected of a policeman.

"Thaaaat's less than reassuring, Steve. -Oh, uh, Officer Steve. Sorry." Seriously, bro, that's just cold. Cold as ice. At least Asta looks a little apologetic about how casual she sounded. Duly noted: don't talk to the cops like they're your buddy stopping by for lunch.

"It's kinda cool, though, the whole freelancing thing? I mean, I'm not gonna get an interview with the mayor or anything, but it's nice to just kinda... set my own pace. Y'know?" She shrugs again. "Play it loose."

Speaking of the portals, though... "Options? Like what?"

"Well, many people here have made the Nexus itself their home. Either that or they've resettled into a different world then the one they originated from. Both options are not uncommon exactly, though there are some paradoxes to consider, obviously. If another you existed in that world, for example."

Katsuya doesn't quite seem to be able to read the atmosphere between these two. He's as obliviously helpful as he is informative.

Officer Stone Cold Six Million Dollar Man Steven Austin the First narrows his eyes at the highly disrespectful Asta. "Yeah, I know your kind. You like to play it loose with the law, too?" If he doesn't really care, he's sure being coy about it. The man in blue looks at the man in the suit Police-Conspiratorially.

"I doubt it, most of my communication equipment doesn't work here, or continues to receive signals that it doesn't recognize and tend to come through garbled."

This comes from a woman in a long, black, kilted robe. There's a hood, but she's not currently wearing it, and a belt with various devices strapped to it, up to and including a long handle at her hip. She speaks, for the closest Earth reference, with a sort of generically British-English accent.

"Really? Aaw man, so much for that idea." And here comes a pout. Pout pout pout. "At least it's kind of cool here, I guess." Give or take the idea of an inter dimensional portal taking over a door in her house and relocating her coats to who-knows-where, anyway. That part is a downer. Asta quirks a tiny little smile, then pauses when she sees the gear. "Oh, woah, what's all that stuff for?"

"Admittedly, I'm not exactly a comm officer, so I haven't really bothered to try to fiddle with it to see if it works past bloody 'garbled static' mostly because I haven't needed to do so yet." She shrugged and shifted her weight, "As for my equipment... scanner, my holocomm, saber, so on, so forth."

She made a 'so on and so forth' gesture with one hand.

"It tends to come in handy to carry most of it, since it's usually useful in some fashion back home."

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Your Persona 2 trivia bit has made you my hero :)

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