nexus_sages | holy guacamole it's foggy nelson!

Foggy has no idea just how magical this might get. On the other hand, it might be reassuring for him; when he knows she can keep Matt from bleeding out, he might be able to sleep at night.

His secrets, and his hair, are safe with her. Can't make any promises about Marci.

"It's... definitely something." She will neither confirm nor deny that she likes it. It's not the worst bar she's seen, but... it's a little scary. Loud and crowded and not the sort of place she's comfortable in. She's fragile, Foggy, there's a reason Matt treats her like she's made of spun sugar. But that's a story for another day.

"I have no idea, but I'm sure some pretentious twit has done it. We're not lacking for stuff to put in, we just need a place to put it all. And architects are moody."

He should have kept up with that D&D group. That might have helped the transitioning too. But yes, greater forces to help out the human frustration factory that is Matt Murdock.

Verity and Marci need a nice, slow introduction. There's a potential for explosions there.

"Yeah," his agreement comes with a sigh and a fond, distant look. She seems jumpy. But maybe that's because she's sensitive. Not the way that their mutual friend is. In some way. Foggy figures the details will come along in due time. All in due time.

"What kinda museum is it again?" He looks around to where she is leading. "Did...--? Where are we Verity?"

D&D, fairy tales, Game of Thrones... really, lots of things could have helped. And here, all he has is Verity. Poor schmuck.

She's got nothing against Marci, really, but easing her into meeting new people she has to be nice to is generally a good strategy. The jumpiness is just part of the reason.

"An art museum." She'd been preparing to talk about forever, or at least until she got him back to the Kitchen, but then he had to go and ask that didn't he? Sigh. "We're... Okay. I know this is going to sound insane. We're in a place that's in-between realities. It's called the Nexus."

Fairy tales? Sort of. Grammy Nelson really liked the old, old gory stuff after all. Who keeps telling stories about children being eaten by bears and wolves? Jesus. Still he is really not rationalizing or taking those bygone lessons to heart.

Marci kind of likes to poke at things that squirm. That's where her attraction with Foggy started. She can be nice. Again, she and Foggy have a connection. There's just that tendency of her's to be very, very Marci all at once.

Of course he had to ask. He's a lawyer! "Come again?"

People who want to protect their families from the bears and wolves in the world. Foggy could stand to look at people a little more critically sometimes. He's a lawyer ffs.

Ver and Marci will sort themselves out. Marci pokes, Ver snarks, it'll be the beginning of a terrifying friendship for all the boyfriends. Not even just theirs, because they might give lessons.

"Okay... let's start at the beginning. There are multiple realities. An infinite number. You know the theory that every time you make a choice, every possible outcome of that action happens somewhere? It's kinda like that. This is the place in-between those places."

Literal beasts, these days they don't have teeth they have guns, knives and agendas. At least that is expected, normal. Popping in and out of places like it's nothing from crime riddled Hell's Kitchen and bustling New York City to... busy cosmopolitan of what was this place called again?

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait." Foggy stops and puts his hands up. He flips his hair back a second and takes a breath. "That's real? Am I real. And you're ...are you real?"

Wolves and bears are less frightening than Punishers and ninjas, it's true. They have no agenda except their hunger. Human emotions get in the way of the slaughter and make it so much worse.

"You're real. I'm real. This is real. Do you need to sit down? Or would you like to go for coffee or something?" Coffee or something usually makes these things easier. "I promise you, Foggy, you're safe here. I won't let anything happen to you."

Ninjas, gangs, uh...aliens those too. Human emotions all on their own are difficult to handle but all the elements together? What's a person to do? Stand their ground the best they can. Or hide. Nothing wrong with a little self preservation.

"Sitting is good. Coffee... coffee's great." Coffee that isn't specially imported beans or special gluten mild fiber whatever that he had awhile ago. Foggy sighs and starts to loosen his tie a little bit. "What's happening?"

Foggy has no idea how easy he has it. Really. But no, nothing wrong with self-preservation. No judgment from Ver, seeing as how she ran away like a coward when her world ended.

"Coffee, then sitting?" She'll steer him toward the Harp. It's got the best coffee, the sort he'll like, and okay the waitstaff might be a little weird for him but he'll adapt. She hopes. "Nothing that hasn't always been happening. You just didn't see it before. And if you don't want to deal with it, that's okay, I'll get you home and you never have to come back or think about it again."

With all that's going on back home, Foggy has taken up small measures of defiance with cases and that's about it. The police handle the hard stuff. And...well... a friend. Running in a fight is how he would hope to make it out alive.

"Yeah. All of that." Foggy follows his eyes are far more keen now to the setting, the buildings and the people. "I'm just trying to process all of this. You visit here? Live here?"

Holy Toledo. Does Matt know!?

That's how Ver started too. Knowing she needed to be able to run and protect herself. Protecting other people is a more recent concern.

"I live here now. It's pretty nice when you get used to it, but it's a hell of a lot to take in at first." She switches from holding his arm to wrapping her arm around him while they walk. He's having a hard time and he's Matt's best friend; she has to look out for him. Transitive property of something. "And before you ask: no, I didn't grow up in your New York, but a New York."

There's been no shame it it. Not now anyway. Matt has impressed on him and Karen that they use the law because that is what they can use best. They don't have super special heightened ninja radar or whatever it is.

"You live here now but you used to live in a New York. But I've seen you in...my New York." He's repeating facts to make sure that at least the bones of them are set before the flesh. No, Foggy isn't slow. Just this is a shock, surely anyone would have a time building it piece by piece from there.

Her touch is comforting, he accepts it immediately. He's a hugger and a toucher too. Matt's friendship as extended to him. The worry about what this may mean for Verity's existence between worlds braided with Foggy's own is starting to be distressing. So for it's quiet and comely atmosphere The Harp is an excellent location.

People should always protect themselves with whatever skills they have; Ver won't argue with that. But people keep telling her she's brave and heroic and it really gets on her nerves sometimes.

"Right. I just... I told you I was there to see Matt." Let's stick to the easier-to-digest facts right now. She knows he's not slow, she'd never think that. He's brilliant. But this is a lot to take in, she knows, she's been there too. The more gently she can put things, the easier for him, right?

He can work on things while they walk; she won't interrupt him, but she will rub his back when she realizes how tense he is. Not that she can blame him. Again: she's been there. Once they've got a table at the cafe, he can worry about the non-human waitstaff while she orders: macchiato and a slice of chocolate cake for him, akhaccino and a smolderbracken tart for herself.

"You must have a million questions. Let me try and answer some. Yes, Matt knows, he's been here. This is where we met, actually. No, I don't know why he hasn't told you, I'm not a fan of secrecy. Yes, I know what he does at night. No, I'm not going to try to stop him." Not all strictly Nexus-related, but important to get out in the open.

Brave, heroic types man. The life chooses them. Or the opportunities keep coming and you're left with no choice but to do something. Chances are Verity might have more than a little hero in her.

Indoors means less noise. The shop has it's own bubble of calm. Foggy's eyes do lock with several of the staff. The names for what they are escape him. This is... real. He blinks and then falls back to the other mysterious he's trying to work through.

"He does that sometimes. With me. I mean. I don't think he'd keep things from you. He really does love you. I've seen it." That's not what brought them here or what this is about. Foggy has always been a guy to speak the truth and let it work for the time that it's right. Breathing out he rubs the bridge of his nose.

"I'm safe here. Nothing bad will happen if I like... see myself from another New York? Are you safe like out of time? Nothing bad is going to happen?"

There are so many jokes that could be made right here that will be passed over in the interests of community standards.

Indoors is quieter, calmer, easier to digest because it's one small part instead of the massive infinity outside. The weird is weird, but it's all of a type. Yes, Foggy, this is real.

"Yeah... I'm real lucky." Just thinking about Matt makes her grin in that goofy way and blush just enough to be obvious about it. Even in the midst of all of this, the idea of Matt makes her want to melt.

"I'm safe as houses here," she assures him. It's the easiest part to answer. "As for what happens if you see another you... well. I'm not really sure. I know it's happened to people sometimes, and they didn't, like, explode or anything. It would probably be unsettling, but you wouldn't have to talk to them."

We all have a rough idea of what it would entail. Hilarious, crude humor. The best kind. We now continue our regularly scheduled scene.

He's trying to take slow breaths. Trying. Foggy looks away from one waiter realizing that he's staring. And it's a person....he's a person. Ahem.

"He's really a great guy. The whole... uh hobby takes getting used to. I'm still getting used to it. Does he do that here? Is that how you met him? ...how do you know what is and isn't from your New York?" More questions as she's just answering questions. Foggy clears his throat. "I'm trying to not get carried away here. Everything's okay. Right?" His brow furrows as he searches Verity's face.

Just so long as everyone's clear there's nothing little involved.

Ver reaches across the table to take one of Foggy's hands in both of hers. She's here, Foggy. She's real, she's solid, she's the same woman you met a few weeks ago. The landscape has changed, but this hasn't.

"Here? No. There'd be no reason to. There's some kind of magic or something that keeps people safe here, it's called the antiviolence field." She's going to skip around with his questions to try and organize the answers in ways he'll be able to process. "Everything's okay, Foggy. I promise. You're fine. We'll get you back home and you'll see. I promise."

She's a 'heart on her sleeve' kinda gal. There is nothing in her expression that suggests she's reserved or hiding anything at all.

"You can ask all the questions you need to. As for knowing what's from your world... it can be hard. Sometimes you have to ask some pretty specific questions to be sure, or just take the plunge and go and have a look for yourself. But... heroes happened a lot earlier in my world than in yours. Cap was thawed out in the sixties, Matt was heroing for most of my life. So it's pretty easy for me to be sure our worlds diverged a long time ago."

There are big doings in Hell's Kitchen for always. It's no surprise that this would not be a small observation.

Her efforts are chiseling away at his tendency to get carried away. Foggy sighs and pushes a smile. It's a good sign. "You'd think I'd take to weird better than this." With The Incident, with Matt being whoever he's decided to be. "I'm cooling off." A little. Verity's face is the picture of calm. If this was a trick, she'd have like an Oscar.

"Okay." The hand that isn't under hers pushes back his hair again and he purses his lips. "So like... you weren't surprised by anything? Since it sort of happened already?"

Calm and reason are the best remedy for panic. The coffee and cake being delivered now will help too. Chocolate cake makes everything better. She murmurs merci to the waiter, who seems not to be phased by Foggy's behavior. This is a place lots of people are brought their first time visiting. They've seen worse. "It's okay. You're doing fine."

She pats his hand and leans back now that there's food and drink between them. Her croissant is flaky, buttery, and properly not curled. She's a dunker. "Oh no, lots of things are different. The Incident never happened where I'm from. I mean, we had plenty of other attempted alien invasions, but not the way that happened. The Red Skull didn't die in the war. Sokovia isn't a place I'd ever heard of. Tony Stark didn't build Ultron."

She shrugs and has a bite of her croissant, letting him take all that in before she continues. "So, there are similarities, but... it's kind of like reading a book then watching the movie. Things change."

Foggy Nelson takes his eyes away from Verity's and sees the cake. That's how he knows deep in his gut that everything is going to be okay. He takes up his fork and takes a sip of his macchiato. "...Thanks. Trying." Conscious effort because if he has to be whisked away from his reality at least there's hospitality and good company. The bitter sweet of espresso across his tongue is as real as the both of them. What a trip!

"So Hell's Kitchen isn't so bad then? We didn't get...smashed?" Because that seems like a given. Or something. "Did you relocate because something happened?" Excuse him while he digs into the cake now.

Ver watches him without comment for a few moments, taking in how the simple ritual of sharing food is helping him relax. This was definitely not the time to shock him with some of the other things on the menu. Or by letting him see a menu. It's good to see him starting to feel a little better.

Just in time for him to ask those questions. Her gaze drops. She waits for his mouth to be empty.

"My world no longer exists. A portion of the multiverse was collapsed in on itself. We um. There wasn't time to implement the solution."

See, the comfort that a meal or food items brings is one of those things that the Nelson family really thrived on. Why else would Ma Nelson want to have a butcher boy? It's about taking in something that tastes good, appreciating it's craftsmanship and the peace that being at table offers. That's got roots in warrior bloodlines! Or that's how his father justified it as he asked for additional helpings.

"What?" Excellent gauge of timing. Unfortunately he has no idea what kind of can of worms this is. "What happened? It has to exist cuz New York still exists. And you still exist." Foggy waits before taking in any more cake. They might require more. And coffee. He can see the trouble dawn on her face and it's too late to turn in any other direction.

It's a thought process she understands; her paternal line fought the dark elves. She's the latest in a line of heroes, and may be the last of them. That deserves so much cake.

"I escaped. I came here." She doesn't want to come home, Foggy. She wants to go home, but she can't. "Beings called the Beyonders. Those Who Sit Above In Shadows. They wanted to see what would happen if the Multiverse collapsed. So they..."

She holds out a hand, open and empty, then snaps it shut.

"The only way for one planet to survive was to destroy the other Earths set on a course to collide with it. People here helped me find a way to stop that, but there wasn't time to stop that for my world. So." So here she is. The refugee with no papers and no place willing to claim her.

Latest as she might be, it seems too soon, too sad and too final to say she's the last. All the same, Verity has deserved so much cake. Multiple tiers, multiple flavors, textures... she deserves an All Cake.

"Oh," it's a deflated, single word. He purses his lips and his brow furrows. "I'm...Jesus. Verity, I'm so sorry. We must make you feel like such oblivious idiots." Just going about their ways and days like it's nothing.

An All Cake is way better than a No Prize. But it's not realistic to think she and Matt are ever going to settle down and have kids. He's far too dedicated to the heroing to be a decent father, and Ver would never do that to an innocent child.

"What? No. You had no way of knowing. It's... I mean. Knowing that other people are still alive and well is kind of comforting." It's not okay, it's never going to be okay, but it doesn't have to be a crisis situation forever.

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I'm so meta. :P

:DDD

Of course, there really are comics about the Avengers and FF and whatnot where she's from...

what if the comics have the mcu plotlines? :o

That'd be a trip!

/chin hands this idea

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