Nexus City

Tiko

Tiko

Draconic Administrator/Mentor
Administrator
Mentor
Nexus GM
full


Nexus​

Nexus' purpose is one that predates the formation of the first Shattered Isles worlds, and to this day it continues to fulfill its function to rebuild the fractured universe and reconnect the broken worlds into a single cohesive universe.

While no one knows the true origins of Nexus or who brought it into being, it serves as both an architectural and arcane masterpiece. Tall crystalline and metallic spires lance upwards towards the sky, spanning across the city for as far as the eye can see and sprawling across the lower levels of the city are vast forests entwined around and through the buildings. Large open grassy fields and majestic waterfalls can be found all through-out the landscape and a flourishing ecosystem has evolved from flora and fauna originating from all manner of verses and realms.

The size of the city is immeasurable, but it remains curiously absent of any semblance of a permanent population due to its ever changing, ever growing, and ever shifting nature. The city itself is as alive as the forests that grow throughout it, and it maintains an intricate network of root-like connections that spread far and wide. Every plant and animal within the city is connected to this network and together they form some manner of a symbiotic relationship to one another. The local flora and fauna are typically of no threat to travelers that utilize Nexus to travel between the Shattered Isles unless Nexus has deemed them a threat to itself.

Despite the constant shifting and altering of the cityscape, one curiously always seems to find their way to wherever it is they need to be (though not always where they intended to go). One must take care when venturing throughout the vast city though, for one can never know when a rift may appear.

At the city center of Nexus one can find Wayfarer's Point, a massive building to dwarf even the tallest spires of the city. This central point is one of the most stable and static locations within the city, seemingly permitted to exist as it helps to fulfill the Nexus' function to reconnect the shattered fragments of the universe.
 
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The smells!
So many exotic scents mingled together in one place; it was enough to make one's stomach growl, and one's mouth drool should it be left agape—Kitty felt unfortunate to have landed within a mix of vendors making food within Wayfarer's Point. Each meal seemed more unique than the last, yet she had to refrain from touching any of it. Nothing good would come of randomly eating everything that looked delicious. Ooh, boy did everything look delicious.

She bit lightly at her tongue, turning away and continuing her trek through the halls of the crystal tower, making her way more towards the bottom of it. She hadn't come to sample delicacies, but to hopefully find something specific in the main city before making her way through the rifts again. Slowly, the smells of food faded away, and Kitty was left exiting the great structure, continuing out into the breezy sunshine.

The whole aura of this place was undeniably cheery, yet grew more serene as she drew away from the Point. Birds glided between buildings and trees, insects buzzed across the sky as if on a mission. She once spied a bright green lizard crawling up a wall, though most often small reptiles kept hidden within the bushes. It seemed as though the life of the planet and humanity had come to terms with each other.

There were people, too, though the numbers quickly thinned the further from the Point she walked; for this, Kitty was very glad. Crowds were not her forte, and it helped her focus when she was not trying to pass by a million life-forms while she thought. She had to keep in mind what she was looking for, though not so much where she was going.

There was never any real way to tell where one would end up as one wandered throughout the city, and the sooner a person came to terms with this, the better. Oftentimes, Kitty enjoyed the fact that letting oneself amble aimlessly always provided the best of adventures, but this time she had somewhere she very much wanted to be and wished to get there before something distracted her.

Like food.

The girl stubbornly shook the thought from her head and kept walking.
 
Leland awoke in a tree, panting. His eyes quickly scanned the area, an unfamiliar landscape, almost alien. Something out of a science fiction novel.

Where am I? Leland wondered. This place was so foreign that Leland didn’t think that this could have been anything else but a dream.

It was so real, though.

He pinched himself and it hurt.

It wasn’t a dream.

Oh god oh fuck oh god oh fuck oh god!

How he even got here is a mystery, and he was too scared to leave his tree. So he would just sit and wait.​
 
CLUNK!

The sound of F bumping into a tree was enough to wake Kid from his slumber. He slowly sat up, not wanting to leave the comfort of the red and black blanket he had been laying on. In getting up, however, Kid noticed his new surroundings.

"F, where are we?" Kid asked, looking confusedly at the surrounding forest.

"I have no idea. It appears that this place is a forest, although there is a city nearby. Should we check it out?" F replied, hoping that there would be someone there who could tell them where they were.

Kid made an obnoxiously loud moaning sound and laid back down. Why were they here? Just a few minutes ago they were having a nice little picnic on the stone mountain they had been living on, and now they were in some random forest in the middle of nowhere. This was stupid. He should be at home, on a bed, watching a movie. He hated this. Kid closed his eyes in an annoyed fashion (F never knew how he managed to close his eyes and look more annoyed than when he had them open) and started trying to fall asleep. He wasn't able to, with the fact that it was the middle of the day and he had just taken a nap, but he still tried.
 
Daniel idly thumbed through a small journal as he walked the main streets of Nexus, his eyes trailing his pen as he started to mark his calendar down. He had an appointment setup next week with a creature he had very little to no experience with, and while he was excited about the opportunity he lamented his inexperience and started pondering where he could get some more info about their physiology before the meeting. "Would it be possible to find someone else of their kind around here...? It's not like they have a certain hangout." Daniel mumbled to himself, going on to think about making a request from his family to see if they had any connections with the race in mind.

All the pondering had led his walk astray, and very soon he found himself following the scent of fresh meat being cooked down the street. While his own mind was busy with the schedule, his body knew what it wanted and had managed to steer him in the right direction as he came to an assortment of food stalls. Looking up from his little journal his mouth wavered as the scent filled his nostrils, immediately giving his stomach to go-ahead to grumble unceremoniously.

With a quick movement of his hands he returned his journal and pen to his pocket and pulled out a small sack of the currency prevalent down here and went looking through all the options. One particular kebab of sorts, well-seasoned and incredibly pungent drew his attention. "How much?" He inquired, already opening his bag while flashing a smile to the vendor to keep everything on good terms. The price was minimal, so he purchased 2; not like he had to worry much for income. The medical profession here did quite well, and as long as he stayed busy he was well paid. Pocketing his coin, he grabbed a kebab with either hand and sought out a place to sit.
 
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Diarneus was idly strolling through one of the Nexus' many gardens. He let his personality construct running a basic avoidance protocol so he wouldn't walk into any other passerby as his mind was free to ponder. The man probably looked somewhat frightening as he walked with an expression completely dead to his surroundings, letting his mind free to wonder.

He was collating some of his data on his treatment for Acheron-Deficiency, a disease that was afflicting the bio-mechanical denizens of one of the Isle worlds and positing that it held many parallels with another syndrome experienced by exposure to rogue medical nanites in another world. Just when he finished making his case and while mentally uploading his study into the processes that virzants—a small rodent-analogue native to Oniva Ix—utilized to metabolize hydrocarbons for peer review his Va'nyr link activated his proximity warning.

Within 500 meters, she stood. With intent. For him.

Mildy panicked, Diarneus sent an entreaty to Xilunexus to please please not divulge his location to Freyn'ja. Who given what time it was, probably had just finished one of her shifts helping the Glarinvans reconstruct their ship, and was on her way to drag him to some frivolity or another.

As craftily as he could, he ducked beneath a hedge that began nearby at waist level and began to quickly crouch-walk out of the gardens and in the direction of one of the Nexus main streets. It wasn't long before he reached the edge of the gardens, where an impressively tall tree rose out of the hedges, conveniently blocking the view from his path thus far.

It also held a variety of 'benches' under it's shade, with a multi-varied construction crafted to accommodate the varied morphological traits of the Nexus' travelers. Upon one of these he found his possible salvation.

Filing away the chemical profile of the scents from the remains of the pungent kebab, Diarneus approached his colleague Daniel, a very capable dual life-form he'd occasionally shared discussions and research with.

He was still to this moment uncertain of where the politeness of which lifeform to address fell, but he hadn't yet found a polite way to raise the question. It wouldn't have been his first faux-pas when it came to intermingled lifeforms, and he was not keen to find himself in that kind of trouble again.

With some difficulty, Diarneus reprogrammed his personality construct to better match what Daniel would expect of him. It wasn't easy to explain the trepidation that Freyn'ja sometimes caused him. "Good afternoon, Daniel. If she wanders over here and asks, we're very busy saving lives."
 
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Daniel was savoring the flavor of the last kebab tenderly, his hunger subsided as he cleaned his lips with a napkin that was given to hold the kebabs to start with. The flavor was exquisite, but honestly it was the portion size of the pieces that had initially drew his attention and led him to choosing it. Breathing a sigh of content his head twitched as he felt someone's eyes on him, turning his gaze over he was confronted with the sight of a colleague. "Oh, good afternoon Diarneus." A like-minded individual interested in studying xenophysiology, while his works were astounding his own race was quite peculiar. He shared a similar form and shape to his own but there was always something... Off, about the eyes and the personalities from those he had the pleasure to work with. Speaking of which, he glanced over to whom Diarneus must be speaking of and nodded in response.

"Of course, very busy. Not having lunch." He chuckled as he wrapped the two sticks that had previously kept the kebabs together with what remained of the napkin; tidying up a bit as he looked the man over. "You seem rushed, what are you hoping to avoid?" Daniel had always been a bit curious of their race, while amazing academics with a willingness to share the information they gather and collect to the Wayfarer's guild he had very little information about the race themselves.

Thankfully, Diarneus was a bit easier to understand than most due to their shared interests; both in the medical field and in his most recent application to volunteer with the Sierran's. Maybe he would be of some help there?
 
Diarneus replied casually, most of his mental faculties devoted to ignoring the onslaught of hails his Va'nyr link was under: "It's Frey'nja, our System's curator. She found out that the Hilari opened a sensual massage group class in the Point," he said as the imagery began to assault him. Before he closed off his connection, he had to endure the Hilarian's brochure, a true to life reconstruction of Frey and himself participating, and the exact way this made her feel. In excruciating detail. "Hilarian physiology is not...particularly compatible with a bipedal morphology," he murmured.

With a start, he got his personality construct under control, lest Daniel be left with the wrong ideas. While the StarSpeaker had relaxed many of their directives of secrecy now that they were here, old habits were still hard to get over. "I saw your indent id in the Sierran posting on the Point Net," he said changing the topic. He breathed a sight of relief as he felt Freyn'ja go off sulkily. "I myself decided to apply to join them. Seemed a good opportunity for new avenues of study. What's your opinion?"
 
Frey'nja? Daniel pondered the name for a moment as he searched for a memory of her but came up to no avail. If they weren't in the medical field directly, or introduced to him through family he didn't get around much more than that but if she happened to be a curator he at least recognized the importance of her position. "I'm familiar with the Hilari, they're a unique bunch to work on but I can understand their need for such a class." In his study of their physiology, navigating their... Sensitive areas proved difficult. "At the very least their friendly, albeit a little too friendly for some of the more conservative races here. It's a common concern though when we find species not accustomed to clothes who believe in a different kind of -" Ahem. "Personal freedom."

As the conversation turned to his application for the Sierran posting Daniel smiled. "Much the same of yours, great opportunity for study and a chance to help those in need. My family's both eager and worried, making connections through the network would bode well for us but the inherent danger is still there." With a shrug Daniel dismissed the thought of danger as a light concern, using his free hand to secure his bag of medical supplies that he kept with him. "But with two medical professionals invested, I doubt we'd have much of a concern staying healthy! I don't mind having another set of eyes and a fresh perspective to bounce ideas off of." He finished, growing excited at the prospect of learning about the newer species that haven't yet made themselves prominent at the Nexus. Being part of that frontier would be another step for his studies, and for his family. The thought of bringing that value back to everyone else seemed almost overwhelming.
 
They came in like a storm.

A shadow loomed over them, blocking the sun, and then came the wind, bending the trees- but where most storms blew cool air, all this was warm. In fact, it was almost hot.

Above, there was no dark cloud, no veins of lightning splitting the sky, and no thunder shaking their bones, but there was a beetle-shaped hovercraft, its engines pointed down and out, as not to blow away the two people speaking below. A door slid open on the side of its metallic green body and let go of a rope, which landed between Daniel and Diarneus.

Standing at the top, a figure dressed all in robes and a cowl stared down, beckoning to them.

"Well, are you going to make me wait all day? You are the ones who responded to the Sierrans job listings, aren't you? Come on!"
 
Diarneus was caught with his mouth half-way through forming a response towards Daniel when things quickly got weird. At least the him behind his current personality construct assumed such an entrance would qualify as weird. That was the thing with all of the personalities around Nexus; his psychological training was just as frenetically engaged as his physiological studies. As his perception of time instinctively slowed in response to the sudden stimulus he set part of his background analytical processes to record and study the responses Daniel might display.

He also took a second to inform the consensus he was off, and to download a generalized adventurer's schema from the Aman'Teran just in case. It was one of the Starbreath's, some flashy stuff there.

With a mild shrug—executed in normal side-real time as Diarneus finished scanning and confirming the newcomer with Xilunexus—Diarneus rose up in the air, ignoring the rope entirely until he was floating besides the open hovercraft door. "I am Diarneus Bevernixian, here representing myself," he said executing a bow in mid-air. "Are you Ms. Vang?".
 
Daniel waited for Diarneus's reply patiently, curious as to the man's goals and focus with the Sierran's but his attention was shifted quickly as a shadow drew forth and covered the both of them. The hairs on the back of his neck and forearms rose lightly as he took in the situation, eyes dilating to focus in the newfound shade as he made an effort to make out the appearance of the newcomer finding their way out of the hovercraft. "Well that's new." Daniel muttered aloud as he shuffled on the bench to ensure he wasn't hit by the rope that was let down from the hovercraft. He had little time to be surprised by this however as a voice called down to them.

Of course. The Sierran's. It was a bit strange to attempt a kidnapping in such a place, but not impossible as was his first impression of the craft coming in so quickly but this woman shouting down at them made a bit more sense. Daniel got to his feet, glancing side to side for a trash-can in the park to toss his kebab sticks away. That moment was all it took for him to lose track of Diarneus because as he glanced back to the bench to ask him if this was normal, he was gone. "Diarneus?" He questioned, doing a quick glance around before looking back up towards the hover craft. He couldn't climb the rope that quickly could he - oh.

The man was floating. Sighing for a moment Daniel made his way closer to the rope, securing his bag on his person once more and ensuring his belt was in place before he reached out for a firm grip. Daniel was on the lighter side of things, and although he had never climbed rope before he was confident in his ability to lift his own weight after everything that had gone down. His forearm muscles tightened, his grip secure, and he found it quite easy to scale his way towards the hovercraft.

Making his way to the top he glanced between both Diarneus and the strange woman that had deemed to pick them up, taking a moment to recall her first question. "Well, thanks for the pick up." Daniel nodded as he set to balance himself and try to climb inside. "Daniel of house Vitae, pleasure to meet you. Does this mean we're accepted, or is this more of a test?" He began quizzing, his mind a blur as he decided to just go along with the series of events. The rest of his day was clear, and the day after so he had little else to worry about.
 
The woman regarded Diarneus with crossed arms and a one-over. Barely anything could be seen above her mask, but her eyebrows did briefly rise. "The one, the only," she began, waiting for the second volunteer to pull himself into the cabin. "Tatiana Vang. Pleased to make your acquaintance." There was an accent there, but only when she said her name, with short vowels and a V that was more like an F.

She gave Daniel the same look, sizing him up. Though his climb was not as grand as the colorful space wizard's, the ease at which he ascended was in itself impressive.

"Both," she answered. "If you couldn't get up to the ship with everything provided, you bet your ass I wouldn't be bringing you on a mission. Have a seat, both of you-" She gestured to the chairs behind her and shut the cabin door, then took a seat right behind the cockpit, facing them. Nice and personal. "Oh, and this is Alyssa Jayse. She will be joining us." Tatiana pointed to the flashy redhead behind them.

"Now, onto more important matters before we reach the rift." The woman pulled at her cowl, bringing it down onto her lap. It didn't reveal much more than was already there, save for her bare arms, carved with the muscles befitting a Sierrans ranger. Her eyebrows and a bare spot of cheek helped send forward emotion otherwise robbed of the mask that covered her mouth and nose. Blonde hair sprouted forth from a navy baseball cap, falling over her shoulders. "I've been given four different missions that need attention. The way I see it, you three are clear for everything between green and red-" Her eyes, a pale shade of blue, flicked upward to scrutinize them. "But I have quite enough people for green, and I need stronger volunteers for those above."

She wrestled her arm away from the tangle that was her cowl, uncovering what looked like a watch latched onto her wrist. She spun the gadget and a whir of tiny gears clicked through the air. A light leaped up and hovered between them, a hologram of three planets with descriptors befitting them.

"We've got a forest with a rabid troll running around, erratic volcanic activity on the thriving moon of a gas giant, and an entire planet that is very swiftly dying with no immediate notable cause. What say you three?"
 
Thirty minutes prior

Despite all the drama going on all around her, Alyssa could always set aside time to visit the hidden paradise that she found shortly after finding herself in Nexus City. Today was that very day, and it was with a long yawn that the lithe female extended every inch of her slender form across the green covered ground. Flowers danced nearby, almost as if they were singing a precious lullaby. Above her loomed a beautiful oak tree, the green splashing against the nearly clear blue sky. The clouds that happened to dot the vast sky were shaped in uniquely different ways, such as bunnies, cats, dogs, and horses. Lying there doing nothing was terrific, and the female did it whenever possible. The daisy directly in front of her nose swayed exotically, its petals blowing in the light breeze. Rolling onto her back, Jayse slid both arms behind her head, allowing her emerald eyes to hide behind her long luscious lashes. Strands of crimson danced against her cheeks, the rest of it hidden by her back except for the few tendrils that seemed to peek out from around her shoulders. It was during this time that she found herself not asleep but in careful thought. Those that knew Alyssa well, which was no one in the city, could attest that this was never a good thing. Anytime she reflected upon her current situation, it either made her realize how much she was out of her element or just pissed her off. It pretty much depended on her mood for the day.

"Alrighty, there aren't any pressing matters, so I'm free to kick back and relax, which is, of course, very much deserved."

Stretching out, she moved both of her arms down beside her side, allowing her head to rest upon the softness of the grass. Above her, the clouds covered the sun, giving her temporary shade. Twirling a piece of her hair around her index finger, the twenty-two-year-old chewed on her bottom lip. A sound nearby caught her attention, and part of her wondered if it was worth worrying about. Maybe if she ignored it, the stupid thing would go away. That, of course, sidetracked her into thinking about whether or not ignored things did go away. It was like telling children that if they counted to five, the bogeyman would disappear. Everyone that had a brain knew that was poppycock. Counting only gave it time to get closer. No, you grabbed either a blunt object or something sharp and stab the thing, screw pretending. For the time being, Alyssa was going to remain exactly where she was and enjoy nature. Sitting up, she dusted off her arms and her tight-fitting silky red t-shirt before moving down to the legs of her black low-rider cargo pants. Scooting back to lean back against the oak tree, Jayse pulled both legs up against her chest, wrapping her arms around her knees. Setting her chin against the top of her knees, she sighed softly, which was something she had often been doing. She remained like that until the sound grew increasingly closer, and the wind picked up immensely. Glancing up, she spotted the hovering craft and just blinked, trying to read the sign that a strange female was holding up.

"Well, there goes my idea of just relaxing today… oh well. An adventure could be fun and hell... I could use the money." Grabbing her nearby bag that had another change of clothing as well as miscellaneous supplies and weaponry, Alyssa quickly climbed the rope and slid into the hovercraft, exchanging pleasantries with the female. They were picking up two others, and she just settled down in a seat, letting whatever happened, happen. It was better than being thrashed by Jason or Rowan, that was for sure.

Present

Sitting silently while the two others climbed into the craft, Alyssa just nodded a hello towards them, her fingers running through her slightly messy locks. She didn't know anything about them and hoped that they were individuals she could get along with. If not, well... she certainly knew how to take care of anyone that was a threat to her and the bean inside of her. Leaning back yet again, she shifted her attention towards Tatiana, listening to the missions.

"I don't know about those two, but I am up for anything." She grinned, her tongue poking out just a little as she chewed on her bottom lip.
 
"What the hell are you getting yourself into, Nat?"

The question to and from Natalie Veinte came as the young woman's cunning eyes glared at her surroundings in an attempt to find some semblance of familiarity or comfort where none was to be found. Nexus City was an ever-changing and always-shifting landscape, allowing no man, woman, or beast to find any permanent dwelling lest they find themselves shifted into nothingness. Or worse. And yet, Nat ventured further in the name of a cause that bore no warmth in her heart other than the desire to keep the blood therein beating for another day.

"Listen, you want to wipe the slate clean? This is your chance. Do this and the entire trace gets wiped. You disappear. Flake on me, though, and you won't be able to swipe a stick of gum without spending the rest of your life in a nice little room with phase-blocking currents wrapped all around it like a warm blanket. Just...do the job, girl."

She'd memorized the message, the cutting and condescending tone, the air of absolute superiority that underpinned the fact that she truly didn't have any choice. Sometimes, you just didn't have the cards and the only hand left to Nat had brought her here. To the Sierrans.

The thief had seen their propaganda everywhere and did her best not to wretch at the tacky nature at which they tried to appeal to the best in others to selflessly sacrifice themselves in the name of noble deeds. Worse yet, she couldn't figure out exactly how her shadowy tracker was involved or stood to gain anything by Nat becoming involved with the do-gooders, but she couldn't afford to wait for answers to questions if she wanted a fresh face and clean start.

So she'd signed up. And here she was, exactly where they wanted her, or at least as close as she could determine with the winding and twisting breaks of Nexus City. Black pants rose from ankle to waist, torso covered in white motorcycle jacket with white vertical piping on the ribs and arms, a horizontal stripe across the open chest revealing a tight-hugging yellow shirt on her limber frame beneath the jacket. Coffee hair fell loose except where constricted by the backwrap of an intricate visor which covered Nat's eyes and a decent section of her face, reflective in prismatic glow as she scanned the area for someone, anyone, to explain.

"If nothing else, they're sure to have some pretty neat toys. Could always do with a souvenir," the thief muttered to herself, picking up her gear bag and hitching it over her shoulder again as she walked.
 
Not far from where Nat walked, Finn was contending with his own set of concerns - none of which had anything to do with the mission he was awaiting 'collection' (whatever that meant) for. No, Finn's current problems were a little more mundane, and largely to do with the fact that earlier that morning he'd discovered an amazing treat that the vendor he'd bought it from had called 'bubble gum'.

A snack that you could blow into bubbles had seemed kind of pointless, at first. Especially after he'd been told you weren't supposed to just eat it. What, then, was the good bit?

After trying it out, however, he could say with confidence that he was a convert. Not only was it a startlingly sweet and fruity flavour that he'd never tasted before, but there was a bizarrely visceral satisfaction that came with the pop of each bubble.

Life had been good, and filled with satisfying pops. Up until the point he'd taken things to their inevitable conclusion; that being, trying to figure out how big a bubble he could make if he stuffed the whole pack in his mouth.

The answer: too large.

The result: bubblegum in his hair, which had turned out to be a much bigger problem than he'd initially thought it would be.

And so Finn was currently crouched by the edge of the road where Nat walked, holding his hair into a bubbling forest stream that currently ran along the side of the street opposite a block of flats (nobody had ever claimed that the city's layout made sense), trying to wash out the sticky mess that his life had become.

"Ahg... why is this so specifically hard to wash out?" he grumbled to himself. "What I'd give for a presto right now..."
 
No sooner had the two ventured to this side of the city, where the buildings were a little shorter and spread out, did a torrent of wind begin to blow around them, bending the sparse foliage dotted here and there. A shadow fell over them, obscuring the sky and replacing it with a large, blue-green hovercraft whose shape took inspiration from a damselfly. Its cabin doors swung open, and above stood a commanding figure dressed in a billowing, hooded cardigan. Even with a mask concealing half of her face, her voice rang clear and true to those below:

"Welcome, volunteers. You signed up for the Sierrans job listings, so we've come by to pick you up."

Two lines of rope were let down for them to climb.

"Don't leave me waiting for too long. We haven't got time to sit around."
 
A few steps down the street and Nat became overtly aware of the presence of another person, life beyond the wilds that inhabited the city. Visor-shielded eyes scanned the area until she locked onto the anything-but-presuming figure of the young...man, maybe? bend over by the flowing water, completely occupied beyond any concern for the passing traveler crossing the city. Nat curiously studied him from a stone's throw a way for a moment, observing the green skin tone and general behavior until she finally connected exactly what boy was doing.

"Been there. Had to cut the whole thing off. Managed to pull off a cute bob for a while, though," she called out, arms crossed as she maintained a discreet distance.

It didn't take long before her hair, recovered from her pre-teen horrors, began to whip at the sudden burst of man-made wind from above as the craft made its presence known. Nat frowned as she looked above her, no need to shield her eyes thanks for the reflective visor.

Damn, was hoping this had been a wild goose chase prank.

Immediately, she gripped the ladder and pulled herself up a few steps before flexing her torso back to the boy and the stream.

"Coming along for the ride?"
 
Finn looked over to Nat, frowning at the girl's words. Surely it couldn't be that hard to get rid of. There'd be magic for it, somewhere. Or maybe even science for it - not that he could tell the difference between the two half the time, even after having been here for a while now. "I'm... hoping things don't go that way," he called back, flashing a goofy grin. "It's kind of everywhere. And my luscious locks are half my charm!"

He too turned his eyes skywards when the wind began to roar, gawping up at the shape that filled the sky. "Whoa," he mumbled to himself. "And people seriously expect me to believe stuff like that's not magic..?"

In response to Nat's question, he smiled brightly, holding up a thumbs up. "You bet! What kind of idiot says no to a ride on a giant dragonfly?"

Grabbing hold of the rope, Finn hauled himself up effortlessly, monkey-like in his swift ascent. Partway up he paused to look down at the sprawling, unpredictable landscape of the Nexus and take in the view with a broad grin, letting the wind tousle the parts of his hair that weren't stuck down. This whole place was like a dream. A weird, drug-induced psychedelic dream, but a dream nonetheless. Where else could he hang fifty feet in the air, dangling by a length of rope from a giant metal dragonfly?

Certainly not back in the valley. Eat your heart out, Tadric, this is cooler than your stupid magic horse.

Only after a lengthy wait did he finish the climb, pulling himself up onto the hovercraft. "So are you guys always this flashy when you pick your volunteers up? I bet people'd pay just to go on a ride!"
 
Nat was agile and limber to a degree that was, quite literally, superhuman in most respects, but the boy was something beyond ever her wildest capabilities. A natural, effortless bounding grace carried him up the rope ladder. Even the cynical thief couldn't help but feel a sliver of his wonder and innocence rub off for a moment as he delayed climbing into the craft as long as possible to enjoy the ride, the view, and the experience. By the time he joined the cabin, Nat was already seated, having lifted her visor into a practical headband.

She took a moment to study the figure that had beckoned them both.

"Nice coat," Nat offered, leaning back with crossed arms.
 
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