Threadtracker December 2018

[bitterguardian]

After an absence of roughly three years, Horvath makes his way back to the Nexus and finds the place in the middle of a solstice party. There he meets the host, Thor pirateangelbaby, a man named Kinner outpostcook who has a problem, and Hermione and CJ mudblood_andproud who is happy to discuss magic.

A day or two after the party, he further discusses the plans to take on the alien monster from Kinner's world.

Along the way in the Nexus, he tries to help Peter Parker websnextdoor with his problems living a dual life.

Comments

[sunandshadows]

Somewhere near his secret door, there is a stack of what appears to be years of solstice presents, birth presents. It's organized, and apparently someone comes by to wipe off the dust, get rid of the insects, and small sachets of unknown spices keep the tunnel rats and mice away. There are however, no footsteps to be seen in the dirt that surrounds the stack. And his door appears to have never been touched, no attempt made to open it.

There is a painting of an alien sunrise - or sunset, with a stack of ruins, boulders in the background. Mist is seen rising from between the ruins. The plants are unusual, as is the two moons in the background. Is it someplace from fantasy, or memory?

There is folder-file of written musical scores, formerly thought lost masterpieces by some of the greatest musical minds on the planet. On top of the folder is a single CD disk containing harp music - someone has committed the written notes to music, and left the only unmarked copy there.

There are a number of packages that contain seeds from any number of locations around the world. Some seeds go to plants known for their beauty, some for their ability to clean the air and add oxygen. Some, thought extinct, were once known for their healing properties.

There is only one note, left there perhaps a month ago, perhaps years ago. The words read "I hope you are still alive, I am. I miss you."

[bitterguardian]

At first, he was spending most of his waking hours in Balthazar's world, focused on putting his things in order and grieving in the environs of the cluttered shop. The girls still got fed and clambered over him when he came home to sleep, but contacting anyone else- and feeding the stray cat colony that lives in the tunnels outside his home, were all very far from his mind.

Eventually though, there was nothing left he could do, and sitting alone in the now-quiet shop was a misery that even Horvath recognized as unhealthy, so he returned home. Like a bear gone to ground, though, he stayed in, lavishing Smoke and Whisper with attention after the guilt of neglecting them. He read, he finished research projects, and he huddled with his books around him like walls. Of course he thought of 'Mara. He thought of her with the guilt of a friend who has lost contact for months, and that guilt kept him from reaching out after. He was also, if he allowed himself to think of it, severely depressed.

Once long ago, he lost Balthazar, a man he had thought of as his brother. A man he had, although he rarely admitted it, loved very deeply in a way that was not brotherly at all. Then after more than a thousand years, he had regained his friend and brother, and if it was not Balthazar from his own world, that seemed to matter very little because it was close enough. And now he's lost him again. It might just be for ten years. It might be forever- his own vicious alternate was locked in there too and who knows what could happen in ten years time. So he mourned, and he hid away.

When he does finally rouse himself to check on the tunnels, the feral cat colony has moved away. Three years with nobody offering up free meals means they found somewhere better. But the tunnels are not empty, and the pile of gifts at his door is wholly unexpected. He's struck with guilt anew, but he brings them inside, and dusts them off, and one by one, carefully, opens them. The painting finds a place on the wall. The CD he puts on his music cabinet, but he can't help but think that Balthazar could have played it off the sheet music, and that's a painful thought, so it takes him a while to actually listen to it. The seeds are carefully labeled and stored, since there's no sunlight to grow them by, down here. The note he reads and rereads, for days and then weeks, before he can bring himself to reply.

When he does finally write back, the note says only "I am so sorry. Please call, or knock? I'm here." He leaves it sealed neatly with a blob of wax, on top of a neatly-wrapped box at the door. Inside is a tree made of wire and beads and crystals, a sculpture that is easily two feet tall and wide, with tiny porcelain figures at its base having a picnic. When he came across it is hard to say, but it made him think of her, and he saved it to give as a gift, only it sat waiting for far too long.

When she knocks or calls, though, he just may be gone again, stolen away by a Nexus storm that's shut him off from home. The cats will be fed for months thanks to spells in place against that kind of disaster, but he truly wasn't expecting this, any of it.