Crashing a (tea) party

[bitterguardian]

It's funny how quickly Balthazar and Horvath have become fast friends again. They were almost brothers, once upon a time, and without the nasty complication of being on opposite sides, or Balthazar being insane, they've fallen straight back into old ways.

So it's not all that unusual for Horvath to be visiting the Arcana Cabana, leaning casually against a counter and playing with a little stone statue of a bird while Balthazar rummages in a stack of cardboard boxes nearby, regaling him with stories of his travels, punctuated by the occasional sneeze from the dust he's stirring up. Horvath's hat and coat are still on, but only because he's just gotten there a few minutes ago, and they haven't moved to the back room for tea yet. Both the old sorcerers are looking forward to a peaceful afternoon of nostalgia, tea, and cookies.

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[merlinian]

It's no secret that David Stutler is still prone to making mistakes when it comes to magic, even in spite of all his training. So far, he's: accidentally set fire to his apartment, created a Little Shop of Horrors situation with a house plant, and made Tank disappear. Balthazar, of course, fixed all of these, and life went on.

The situation he's found himself in now, however, takes the cake.

(He wishes there were cake. Alas.)

He's staring at the front door of the Arcana Cabana, hair smoking slightly and reeking of magic-gone-wrong-again. He furrows his brows and absently dusts his head off, not particularly caring about the smoke or smell.

"Oh, man. This... is bad," he decides. The Arcana Cabana doesn't exist anymore. And yet.

Maybe, he thinks, this is another one of Balthazar's lessons. Maybe it's a lesson on time travel! Or maybe he's just asleep. (Or maybe he just really messed up and he's in deep [expletive deleted].)

Regardless of what's happened, he can't resist the urge to pass through those doors again. He tiptoes up the stairs, carefully opens the front door, and pokes his head inside. His eyes go wide at the sight of all the familiar oddities in the shop, then drift over to the two men—

And Dave screams.