A bitter guardian

Threadtracker February 2019

2019-03-15T01:58:27Z

The winter storm continues, with Horvath still rendering medical attention to Nexizens in need, including Furiosa eumenis. Although he is still unable to heal Captain America shieldborne, when the two teenage Spiders-Men go missing, he joins him in reporting it to the Nexus. Matt Murdock he_put_the_devil_in_me, Kinner outpostcook, and Harrowheart westfallcorndog volunteer to form a search party, and bring the Anansi Bros websnextdoor & telarano back to the clubhouse. At their triumphant return, Horvath gets to work trying to recover the boys from hypothermia.

The Nexus has no end of crises in store, and a day or two later when Horvath is at work in the medical tents a building collapses. With the aid of Hermione mudblood_andproud and Danny prescription_grade he struggles to dig out and save anyone who survived the initial structural failure.

In a quieter moment, Steve shieldborne and Horvath have a chat.

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Threadtracker January 2019

2019-01-12T23:39:53Z

As if to drive home how life-changing the Nexus can be, Horvath finds himself completely trapped there when a winter storm takes over and knocks out most PINpoints and gates. He signs up to help offer medical aid, and later ends up doing triage. In between this, he meets a Steve Rogers and Spider-Man, and joins their group, trekking to their safehouse. Along the way, Steve encounters something that lays a curse on his eyes, rendering him blind.

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Threadtracker December 2018

2019-01-02T02:25:41Z

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.

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I wish I had a more comforting reply.

2015-05-03T17:10:19Z

It's too easy to drown in memories.

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But doesn't everyone?

2015-05-03T03:17:09Z

I loathe doctors.

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Nursed back to health meme

2015-04-21T02:02:13Z

Battle's aftermath

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She's right, of course.

2015-04-21T02:00:32Z

What we need is an adventure.

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Waking from hibernation

2015-04-03T23:35:26Z

Amarante's first visit to Horvath's home was brief, but the place makes an impression. Deep underground, buried in metal and concrete and layers of wards even his old master would be impressed by, Horvath is an old dragon huddled in a subterranean lair. He may have mentioned 'the vault', and he's told her before of how he guards something the Morganians would gladly kill him to get. His home is a bomb shelter, and he keeps it very tightly under lock and key.

Inside this fortress, he's made a grand space, though. His library fills most of an abandoned train station, with a cathedral ceiling that's mostly lost in shadow and rows of bookshelves that stretch further than can be seen from standing in any one spot. There are throw rugs, plush antique chairs and couches, desks and tables piled with books and papers and knickknacks, and a few display stands and cabinets that hold bizarre and impressive items collected on his travels over the ages. Lamps scattered throughout the place cast just enough light to give a warm and cozy glow to the place, without making it too bright. It's a far cry from the sanctuary Mara took him to, but the place has been molded around him like well-worn clothing or a favorite chair. Every inch of the place is very him.

Winter sent him curling up close to home, in the kind of retreat he tried to warn her he so often falls prey to. The cold has begun to creep into his bones, the past few years, and he hates to even risk slipping on the ice. It's far easier to stay down here, in the warmth and comfort of his books and his cats. He feels a little guilty for it, but with spring, it seems time to make an effort to come out of hibernation. His invitation is tentative, since she's been busy serving her Lady over the winter, and having her visit him isn't much of a step outside himself, but he's trying. With a table laid out for tea, Horvath awaits his guest, while the cats demand his attention simply because they can sense his quiet anxieties.

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Unexpected, but appreciated

2015-03-14T01:35:46Z

Back-alley battle, with an unexpected assist from Fortescue.

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This is getting to be a theme...

2015-01-28T04:10:13Z

Drinks with Anna

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Sequel to a kiss

2015-01-26T02:21:36Z

Drinks with Fortescue

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OOC notice:

2015-01-23T15:02:58Z

Dragon meme, anyone??

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Perhaps it's the bunny?

2015-01-18T18:24:01Z

Why does this make me think of you, Bel?

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bitterguardian @ 2014-12-18T19:45:00

2014-12-19T00:48:14Z

...oops.

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Hurt/Comfort meme

2014-12-11T23:42:48Z

A helping hand.

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The holidays are looking up this year

2014-12-10T15:38:25Z

Horvath can, even if he thinks back hard on the past few decades since he settled in New York, count the number of guests he's had on one hand. It's only been Bel, the past five years or so, and he's had two or three trusted associates over to talk shop in the past twenty years, once each. Most of those have since passed on, anyway. A large reason is that he is cautious, to the point of paranoia. After all, his home is built around a vault that contains some very volatile magical items, which is the very reason he settled there, wanting to guard it more closely. That's partly an excuse, though. It's only subconsciously that he looks for reasons to keep people out; out of his home, out of his life. Friends are dangerous, it hurts too much to get attached only to outlive them in what seems like such a short time.

More recently, that's changed, and he's making an effort to open up again. It still takes some careful adjustments to the wards, to let even one person in. Fortunately he knows Anna fairly well, having astral projected with her, so that makes the adjustment easier. She should feel privileged, being one of only three people currently able to pass through the fortification of shields that surround his home.

At the arranged time, he magically teleports her in, to a dim cozy library with a vaulted ceiling of tile. There are no windows, and if one studies the architectural details it's not hard to see the remnants of the turn-of-the-century train station this place once was. Horvath has since filled it with bookshelves, desks, floor lamps and chairs. It's comfortably warm, and the furniture is antique and well-padded, much like the man who makes his home here. A low table has been laid out with tea, finger sandwiches, and cookies, with a few book-shaped wrapped packages stacked to one side.

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bitterguardian @ 2014-12-09T20:40:00

2014-12-10T01:42:12Z

She's an unusual friend, with other unusual friends, but a friend nonetheless.

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bitterguardian @ 2014-12-06T22:00:00

2014-12-07T03:02:30Z

Sorcerer of another kind, yet not so different at all.

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Anna's aftereffects

2014-12-02T19:01:30Z

Fallout isn't always bad.

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Boy in trouble...

2014-12-01T18:27:26Z

Only marginally more volatile than your average teenager...

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Not in the holiday spirit.

2014-12-01T18:24:08Z

Does this make me a Scrooge?

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In the name of a good cause...

2014-11-30T03:20:58Z

Thanksgiving is over, but that's only the prelude to the holiday season. Now Christmas shopping is in full swing, the weather has turned very brisk, and the city is in full winter mode. Even on a weekday, the streets are crowded with shoppers, and the coffee shop is busy, too.

Horvath has proven easy enough to reach by email, and agreeable to meeting at the coffee shop of her choosing, offering to bring a few books along. Now, though, he's late, albeit only by ten minutes or so. When he does come in, he looms in the doorway a little, a tall, bulky figure made even bigger by a long winter coat and scarf. He's got a leather satchel, and his cane, and once he spots her he still has to get over to her table. Of course he could just bully his way through the crowd waiting to order their fancy drinks and get on with their shopping, but instead he takes the route of trying to make his large frame take up as little space as possible, squeezing through gaps in the massed patrons with mumbled apologies and a rocking limp. By the time he gets to the table, he's slightly out of breath and flustered.

So much for making a good impression.

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Should've brought my hat.

2014-11-29T22:18:18Z

Bookshop encounter in the rain.

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Mending a Split Soul

2014-11-25T17:42:35Z

(Continued from here...)

After tea, of course, and a quick trip home to collect what he needs, Horvath returns to Anna ready to make a trip to the astral plane. He's returned with a bag, and spends a few minutes puttering with dried things in jars and tins, making a sort of potpourri in a stone bowl that's already blackened inside. He does pull a heavy magic tome out of thin air, consulting it briefly with reading glasses perched on his crooked nose.

"All right. Chairs, or floor?" The book is gently vanished back to wherever it came from, and he looks for a good patch of open floor space for the ritual circle.

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In search of aglaophotis...

2014-11-24T15:31:25Z

Walk in the woods... and beyond.
(Alternate Link)

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