nexus_crossings | [Nexus LOL] Technomagic was Never meant to work like this

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[Nexus LOL] Technomagic was Never meant to work like this

It's a beautiful day in this ~~neighborhood~~ Nexus. A really beautiful day.

Six-winged birds singing, flowers blooming everywhere one looks. From far off in the distance on the other side of the Nexus people wandering the Plaza will hear a sudden loud noise and feel a very minor shake but there's no invading force. No colossal calamity to be bested. Now for the poor sod who used to own the internet cafe that's just been blown to smithereens in a cascade of firework trails raining down it's a very bad day. Tina's still swearing about Aimbots and cheaters while waving around a game controller that isn't plugged into anything while the fire burns. She's not going to stop when the potions shop next door catches flame either.

But alllll the way back in the plaza? There's no sign of trouble. Maybe the faintest glimpse of fireworks. The smell of gunpowder mingling with a bitter herb and a touch of...ozone? Honestly with all the pollen in the air it's difficult to tell. Precisely Because it's the Nexus the fallout from this ill conceived haze may not be easily noticed at first.

A flicker of a little symbol over someone's head while they're reading a book. People cutting off mid conversation to glance at their conversation partners. Or rather, over their heads. So many little 😮 popping up over heads as confusion starts to spread only to rapidly dissipate into a myriad of other little pictures when people seem to realize that whatever the flavor of the day weirdness is, it's not seemingly dangerous. Is there a rhyme or a reason to them? What could it mean? Are you affected?

[Please refer to THIS POST in the OOC comm for an explanation of what's going on. The TL;DR to this Nexus LOL is that a character's innermost thoughts will be visible to anyone who is observing them whether they're speaking or not, but they will exclusively be communicated via Emojis. The OOC post has some guidelines for using these emojis in tags and some rules so please check there before posting in. Threadhopping and mingling are required for this post as there is no real Question Asker so Have fun!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Palmer's been hard at work at his shop downtown, but he's not too out of it to notice the explosion. He jumps, then relaxes. Well, it looks like things just got interesting around here, the mechanic thinks with a smile. A 😏 appears above his head. Palmer likes excitement...just not the kind where he gets shot at.

If he ever bumps into the person who did this, he'll personally thank them. No, he isn't a good influence.

Well, he didn't do it, he thinks as he rummages underneath his worktable for his wrench, symbols hovering over him. Though he won't say it was a bad idea. The Nexus could use some harmless livening up.

❓🔧

The Doctor has faced 'emotions on display' before. Even in the form of emojis. He can't say he's pleased to have to go through this all again.

Palmer's shop is one of the first places the Doctor reaches. His own emoji shows something of being puzzled.

It will remain like that unless the man can distract him enough - it takes a lot of mental energy to bury how he really feels while displaying the image he wants others to see.

He sees the images over Palmer's head. And is glad he's encountered someone who likes to do some work first. After all, it's fastest to contact the workforce to learn if the Vardy are involved or not. And if they are how deadly this might turn.

"Excuse me. Yes, you. Hello. Do you have any tiny microbots that help you with your tasks."

No, he's not going to beat around the bush this time. He's just going to figure it out and move on.

"Uh, hello, sir. Welcome to Gear Today, Gone Tomorrow."

When he hears the older gentleman speak, Palmer wriggles out from under his work desk, addressing the newcomer. He's pretty sure the man isn't interested in a sales pitch.

"Microbots? Uh, what are those? I don't work with them in my shop, the only robots I know are Blaze-37 and Ghost, and they both aren't here and I'm pretty sure they aren't that kind of robot. Then there's the Iron Giant, and he definitely isn't 'micro'. He's the opposite of 'micro'."

Palmer's very confused, and the two emojis that appear above his head reflect that confusion.

🤖❓

"You lookin' for something? There's these funny symbols floating around people's heads. There was a big explosion, and I think that's where they came from. Now, I don't know who caused the explosion, though I've got a few guesses."

Edited 2019-05-25 05:30 (UTC)

The Doctor had forgotten about the explosion that had rocked the TARDIS earlier. But he does physically relax at the mention of no microbots. Who needs emojis when you can just see the emotional changes? All people needed to do was pay attention to him to know.

"Okay, well, if they aren't here, that's good. You think the explosion is related? Who do you think has done this?"

His emoji briefly changes:

Then it settles back into the the earlier 'puzzled' expression.

"Sorry, this may all seem strange to you. But I've encountered something similar before only it ended up rather deadly, so I just needed to be sure."

Again the image changed briefly.

He wasn't doing as good of a job controlling things as he thought.

"It's probably some experiment gone wrong or a prank. There's all kinds of people here who muck around with explosives and things like that. But I'm pretty sure it isn't dangerous. What was the, uh, more dangerous kind? Is it aliens again? Because we've had our fill of dangerous aliens."

Several images appear over Palmer's head, hovering in order.

👽☠️🧤💎

Palmer's pretty sure that whatever the stranger's talking about, neither of the recent threats to the Nexus that he thought of have anything to do with the explosion. The Fallen are out in the Wilds, and Thanos is in his home universe, thankfully. So he's pretty sure it isn't aliens.

"I'm James Palmer, by the way. Good to meet you, mister."

A symbol appears to join the others, just as Palmer gives his greeting and offers a hand to the stranger.

👋

The Doctor's emoji settles back in the the puzzled expression. He takes the offered hand and shakes it briefly. "The Doctor. And," he gestures to the emojis floating above Palmer's head, "It was something like that. Though from your point of view, what I'm talking about were human-ish. I mean, they were built by humans, but grew in knowledge and experience and became sentient."

He offers a small shrug. "If that's not what's happening here, then good. Well, not good. I don't like everyone else knowing what I'm thinking. So, who could do this?"

He's never been one to think of 'magic' in his experience, there's no such thing as magic, just different levels of science.

"The Doctor. Well, hello, Doctor."

A couple of symbols appear over the mechanic's head: 👨‍⚕️❓ Palmer won't ask what the man's a doctor of, he's busy answering questions, but his brain thinks differently. He's not comfortable with his private thoughts broadcast all over the Nexus, either.

"I don't know her well, but I've heard of someone who's big on explosions. Tiny Tina. That's what she calls herself. That doesn't quite explain the funny symbols, but Tina might be the culprit for the explosion. Maybe it was where it blew up or some chemical reaction. The Nexus is weird."

He tilts his head slightly. "I've read enough Asimov and Phillip K. Dick in my time to know a few things about robots. I'm guessin' these ones you're talkin' about ain't Three Laws-compliant."

The Doctor is respectful; he won't answer the emojis. After all, he can mostly control his. Mostly.

"So, it could be just a coincidence. I mean, usually I don't believe in it. It's possible, though that the explosion set off something else. The explosion, from what I've seen, hasn't really done much damage."

The Doctor chuckles at the mention of Asimov and Dick. "That's all science fiction. Reality is far more exciting. Especially when sentience is achieved. If robots attain sentience then any understanding of the 'Three Laws' needs to be forgotten and the robots treated as equal to humanity."

The negotiation between the Vardy and the humans was only successful because the Doctor was able to convince both groups that respecting each others sentience was the only way they could live together. The Vardy stopped using the 'Mood Indicators' and the humans promised to look after the Vardy. As the Doctor thinks about that situation the symbol above his head changes briefly:
☮️ Then settles into the grumpy-ish puzzled expression.

"But robots and explosions don't matter. I've never seen Vardy here myself, though I've only just recently come back and things are very different from my last visit." He pauses in thought. "I don't tend to subscribe to magic, but that does seem to be a thing here - like you said 'the Nexus is weird'. Do you know anyone with magical abilities that could cause this? I mean, in and of itself, this is harmless."

Palmer gives a good-natured smile. "Fair enough. I guess science fiction can only prepare you so much for the real deal. Blaze and Ghost are robots, but nobody's treated them like they're anything less than people. There's Caspar, too, and he's a Cylon. A sapient, biological robot. He's treated like anybody else here."

Palmer's no expert on magic, but he thinks, a blizard of emojis appearing: ❄️👎🌱❓ He has some obvious suspects. The most powerful magic users in the Nexus, he guesses, would be the seasonal spirits.

"There's the seasonal spirits, but Reynard's disappeared since the winter. I haven't seen him or Hazel lately. One of my friends says there's a Spring spirit now. I don't know her, but she seems the kind for a playful joke like this." He shrugs. "I'd rather have playful jokes than the stunt Reynard pulled this winter, though. You've probably heard all about that. It isn't Reynard's season, though, and this definitely isn't his style."

Palmer's emojis switch to a swarm of ❓. Now he's curious about these Vardy creatures, though he doesn't ask about them just yet.

"Hermione has magic, and there's Horvath, but this isn't really their style, either. I think their kind of magic is a bit different, if this is magic. It's hard to tell the difference between technology and magic here in the Nexus. Clarke's Third Law."

The Doctor listens closely to all that Palmer says. He really only uses the emojis to check for the truth of what is being said. "You're very well-read in Earth Science Fiction." Take it for the compliment it is, he doesn't give them lightly. "Some science fiction has been the basis for real scientific exploration. The Third Law is the most true thing you might ever experience."

And just to prove his point, he pulls out his sonic, aims it at the engine Palmer was working on, and it starts to work, even without the assembly being completed. He tucks the sonic away again.

"You know that's science because we're talking about it, but had I just randomly done it, it might have appeared to be magic. I did some scans for technology that might cause this. I didn't find any, but again 'The Nexus is weird', the TARDIS might not be properly calibrated."

He considers the names that are mentioned. "I know Hermione. Her magic is more - intuitive than science. I've also met Reynard and have no intention of meeting him again."

His emoji changes through a few: 😤 🗡️ ☠️

The Doctor is one to only use violence as a last resort, but Reynard needs to go, in his opinion. Especially after what happened recently. He's mostly angry at himself for not being here, though. He doesn't know what he would have done... He shakes his head to clear it. The emoji returns to being the puzzled expression.

"Thank you," says Palmer with a wry grin. "That's one of the few things I've got to be proud of. I'm willing to believe a lot of strange things, I believed in aliens before I came here, but the Nexus still manages to surprise me."

He observes the sonic screwdriver curiously. While Palmer doesn't comment, his emojis do: 🛠️❓

As for the Doctor's hostility towards Reynard, well, Palmer's pretty sure there's a line at this point. The Winter Spirit had annoyed a lot of people this winter, Palmer one of them. No wonder he's hiding, the mechanic thinks with a huff and a 💢. Reynard probably knows the reception he'd get.

"Believe me," Palmer says, "after what happened with the Fallen I'm pretty sure a lot of people here never want to see him again. I'm not sure how deeply he was involved, but he was. He didn't let them in, but he didn't stop them from attacking us and helped them at least once. He's also the reason why Blaze got shot and Ghost captured. He wanted a sacrifice from our side, or there would have been more casualties. She was it. So I guess he's also the reason why the Fallen are still here, or we probably would've let Blaze's Guardian friends handle them."

More emojis: 🤖🔫👻👽

"What are the Vardy? You mentioned them. I'm guessing they're dangerous?"

He shakes his head. "Hunger looks very like evil from the wrong end of the cutlery. They were microbots designed by humans to help them. They could become anything and everything you could imagine. But like I said, they were smart, became sentient. They hadn't been programmed to recognise negative human emotions. The place I encountered them was about happiness and prosperity. So, when people had a negative emotion, they would kill those people to preserve the idea of happiness."

They thought they were doing good, had to be taught that they weren't. In the end, they were still robots and did what their programming was. He sighs heavily. "I almost wish it was them. They're easy, just press the reset button."

"So they didn't understand that what they were doing was wrong. Makes sense. More HAL-9000 than the Terminator, then." Palmer smiles. He's always proud to show off the amount of science fiction he knows. "I've read ''2010: Odyssey Two'', so I know what happened to HAL in the end. I'm glad you were able to convince them to stop. I imagine a lot of conflicts come from different sides having alien worldviews. I imagine that happened with us and the Fallen, too. The way they see the world and the way we do is hard to reconcile."

Palmer wonders if the Thing knew it was killing people. It certainly wan't willing to stop, and it could learn human language as soon as it assimilated one.

"I'm pretty sure whatever's going on here is the Nexus being the Nexus. To be honest, this is actually kind of fun, as long as it doesn't last. I still think it's likely that the explosion had something to do with it. Tina and Rocket are probably the most explosion-happy people here, so it's gotta be one of them. It's better something harmless than the Anti-Violence Field going down again."

And another slew of emojis: 👧🚀💣

The Doctor scowls. "HAL-9000? Terminator?"

Yeah, he's not into movies and is rather selective in his sci-fi book references, which pretty much end in the 60s, aside from mentioning things that have bled into other places (like space doors going 'shuck-shuck'). Actually, doesn't matter and his expression shows it. 😑

He smirks at the mention of Rocket. "I met Rocket. Seemed more interested in drinking than blowing things up at the time. Though, he reminded me of a companion of mine, Ace. She created her own explosive, Nitro-9."

Oh yeah, he only chooses the best and his own emoji suggests he's proud.

"Making your own explosives. Yeah, that's the kind of thing Rocket or Tina would do. Given that Rocket's not in the best shape, I'd put my bets on Tina. Though I gotta say, these strange symbols are pretty spectacular."

Palmer moves on quickly, his emoji switching to 🧠 as he considers the Doctor's description of Rocket.

"Rocket's a fighter, don't let his size fool you. He's had a hard time back in his home universe, I think, and he hasn't really been himself since then. It happened right after the situation with the Fallen started to clear up. I'm not completely sure what happened, only that it affected a lot of people here and that it was really bad."

Most of what Palmer knows about what happened in Rocket's universe is hearsay, but it was alarming hearsay. "Heard half the people in their universe were wiped out." He snaps his fingers. "Just like that."

The Doctor nods. "I've talked with several people about it. It sounded horrifically similar to something some creatures in my universe tried to do."

He still isn't sure it's not connected to the Time War. ⚔️ It might be, in a strange way. He'll pop over there at some point to check on things. Because he's talented like that.

"But in the end, it was different. I hope they're safe from all of that here. Me? Danger seems to find me wherever I go, so I'm just used to it at this point. I'll check in with Tina and see what she has to say."

"A lot's happened in the Nexus, between that and the Fallen. Wouldn't surprise me if some jerks in another universe had a similar idea to Thanos."

There's a string of emojis. 👾🗡️🛸🔥

"I wouldn't call the Nexus completely safe. The Fallen are still here in the Wilds, for one thing, a small army of them, fully armed with weapons and ships. They haven't attacked us since the ceasefire, but if they wanted to they could burn down the whole of the Plaza and Downtown in a single night."

He nods. "I'd point you to Tina if I knew where she is. I can't even tell where the explosion happened."

"'Safe' has always been a relative term. It's likely that here is safer than there, regardless of what's happening. And I've a plan for that."

He'd just take everyone into the TARDIS. Simple enough. Though, a strange image does appear above his head.

He's the Doctor, of course he can make his own emoji. He's not limited to petty human expressions.

"It's okay, just sadly, at this point, haven't seen much debris to point me in the right direction."

Some emojis appear over Palmer's head when he hears that the Doctor has a plan. 👾🚫🙍💀 It's his brain giving a warning.

"You've got a plan for dealing with the Fallen? I'd be careful if I were you. They don't like visitors very much, 'specially human visitors, and there's hundreds of them. But if you can get them to stop being such jerks and do with them what you did with those Vardy, more power to you. I'm guessin' you ain't human yourself, or you wouldn't dare."

Palmer wonders whether the Doctor is an alien himself. 👽👨‍⚕️❓

Palmer notices the picture of what looks like a police box. A swarm of ❓ emojis appear over his head. How would a police box help stop the Fallen or get them to stop being so unfriendly?

"We're lucky the explosion was pretty mild and nobody got hurt. Tina can be a bit reckless about these things. She's not bad, just, ah, excitable. And she likes it when things blow up. This is likely an accident, to be fair."

Edited 2019-05-25 19:54 (UTC)

"I have several plans for dealing with them." Though he hasn't tried to meet them yet, so how well those plans will work is anyone's guess. "And I'm not human."

His emoji returns to the puzzled expression he first had. He doesn't know what caused that many questions marks, but clearly something slipped through that shouldn't have.

"Hopefully, you're right. But it needs to be investigated so we can be sure."

Because with everything else that's happened recently, it's important to make sure people are as safe as possible. Emojis are relatively harmless. The explosion as well. But the Doctor doesn't like his emotions so easily cued for everyone else to see.

"Good luck, Doctor. I'd be careful. The last trespassers they bumped into were found dead in the snow with their heads cut off for war trophies. What kind of plans do you have? I might be able to give a second opinion. I actually saw the Fallen in the field."

Palmer's guess is correct, it seems. The Doctor isn't human. He wonders now if he's a shapeshifter, or whether the Doctor's an alien species who just so happens to look human.

More 👽 emojis appear. Palmer's kind of an alien fan, and the idea of being in the presence of an alien excites him.

"Yeah. I'll admit it's pretty creepy to see everyone's feelings floating around. No privacy, huh? It could be fun while it lasts, but between you and me I hope it clears up soon. I don't really like it when people know what's inside of my head. It's my private business, y'know?"

The Doctor would tell Palmer that humans look Time Lord, they're the older species. "Well, the obvious answer, if things can't be resolved is to transport everyone away from here. I have a... rescue boat."

Really, it's the best way to describe it sometimes. He doesn't go into details about his other plans. Meeting them is his first plan.

He smirks a little at the last comment, the Doctor won't be telling him that he's a touch telepath, then.

"Yeah, last time, I had a badge on my back, so if you just maintained eye contact, it wasn't a big deal. This? I don't know what to do about it."

"I'm guessin' you know where they are. I don't know the exact place - it ain't safe for humans to go there - but it's a pretty large campsite out in the Wilds. They built their camp in a valley. It's probably hard to miss." Palmer had seen part of the image Loki showed Natasha of the Fallen camp. "They use banners and symbols to mark their territory. There'll be armed guards and security in place, so you'll need a way to get past those."

There's a mess of emojis as Palmer explains. 👾🏴󠁧󠁢󠁮󠁩󠁲󠁿💂‍♂️🗡️🏕️

He sighs. He'd rather leave than die, but abandoning the Nexus isn't a great option.

"I'd hate it if we had to abandon the Nexus to them. They already took a chunk of land this winter. To be fair, the Wilds doesn't really belong to anybody, but I'd feel more comfortable around them if they were nicer neighbors."

"I'm not sure we can do anything about these things. We might just have to wait them out." A 😬 emoji appears over Palmer's head.

Edited 2019-05-25 22:10 (UTC)

The Doctor nods. "I know in general, but haven't been out there yet." He also won't talk about his psychic paper. "But, I have my ways of getting into and out of places."

The Doctor nods at Palmer's analysis of leaving. "I know. I don't want to leave if we don't have to. I'm just saying, if it comes down to it, that's an option."

He considers the remark about neighbours. "I'm hoping to meet them some time soon. I have a history of, well I won't say creating peace, but of giving options in situations that tend to allow both sides to at least come to agreements."

And it mostly ends with, I'm a nice guy, but don't piss me off, I fought in the greatest war the universes have ever seen. "Waiting is hard. Patience is harder. I'm not known for either, so I'm going to do my best to meet them. I just can't like this."

He points up, suggesting where the emjois are. This time, the emoji didn't change at all, which suggests he does have control over what he displays. Being a telepath has its advantages.

"I'd help if I could, but I'm human, and the Fallen hate humans. More than they hate everybody else, I mean. Apparently they think we stole light from them. I dunno what that means, but what I do know is that I'm dead meat if I go anywhere near that valley."

A couple emojis appear over Palmer's head. Apparently whatever's going on has a strange sense of humor.⚰️🥩

"Good luck. Reynard and Loki are the only ones who've been able to talk to the Fallen without getting shot at. I tried to talk to them once, during a scavenging trip. They'd claimed Delia's ship, and there was a scuffle. I asked them what they wanted, so we could make a deal. One of them laughed at me, and the others ignored me completely and kept attacking."

It was foolish to expect a response, as Felix had pointed out, but Palmer doubts he would have even been allowed to approach a Fallen captain, let alone Baroness Pelsor, without being killed.

"Pelsor seems pragmatic, if nothing else, but I get the sense that convincing her and her people to abandon Eliksni tradition will not be easy. They're very proud and tradition-bound. From their point of view, I guess tradition's all they have left."

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