so, yeah, we're going down

[prescription_grade]

There's nothing like a vision of sheer terror dropped in your lap out of nowhere to turn a kid paranoid. Danny sees no reason to interpret the Tower card he's received in any way aside from the commonly accepted interpretation: destruction, loss, confusion. Look but don't touch. Was that part of the message? Watch the disaster unfold, but don't touch? Don't get involved?

He's...honestly totally okay with that, but it doesn't entirely make sense. For one thing, what disaster? For another, he's not exactly a powerhouse of sorcery or in any other way threatening, so why warn him away?

Hermione has been busy; he trusts her implicitly, but he doesn't want to bring this to her doorstep. Felix is hard to reach, and as much as Danny likes him, he doesn't trust him to be there if something's about to unfold.

That leaves one major sorcerous option, and it's the scariest one.

After the building collapse in the Winter, he and Horvath exchanged a few words and PINpoint information, but the older sorcerer has left Danny be. Which is fine. But now he needs him.

Master Horvath? I need some advice or. Help or both? Someone sent me an enchanted object and I don't know what it MEANS. Please?

Comments

[bitterguardian]

What kind of enchanted object? Where are you?

He may not have made a bad choice, because enchanted objects are something of a specialty for Horvath, both collecting and creating them.

[prescription_grade]

It's a tarot card. But it started moving and screaming when I touched it.

Pause. That makes it sound worse than it is but I'm still freaking out man.

I'm in the Nexus in the little field out back of Nuthin' But Eggrolls.

[bitterguardian]

Wait there, and don't touch it again?

It may take him ten minutes or so, and he arrives with his hair a little tousled and shirt collar loose, but that just makes it look like he was trying for dashing, rather than that he was lounging on the couch and had to put his leg on in a hurry. The expression he wears is very sober, frowning a little, so that's likely intimidating.

"Where did it come from?"

[prescription_grade]

Yes sir.

He's sitting on the grass cross-legged when Horvath shows up. Since Winter, he's found a niche at a hostel and managed to collect some odd jobs here and there, so he has new (to him) clothes on. The effect actually makes him look thinner, because he doesn't have as many layers as before. Still, he's clean and healthy.

Horvath doesn't need to have any particular expression to be intimidating to Danny, and he looks up with wide eyes when he approaches, but doesn't move.

In front of him in the grass is the black shadow box, next to it the note that came with it, weighted down by a stone to keep the breeze from blowing it away, and inside the box is the card. Mercifully, the screaming is not occurring right now, but Danny is keeping a nice safe distance from it.

"It was in my P.O. box," he explains. "I don't know who sent it."

[bitterguardian]

Well that's not exactly promising, but if this is somebody's idea of a prank it's a bad one. Danny looked less rattled about nearly having a building come down on him than he does about this card, so Horvath is taking this seriously. He eyes the box and the note both. "It came with that?" He hobbles over and bends down with a grunt, because there's no way he can read it from here.

[prescription_grade]

"Yeah," Danny nods and takes the stone off the note, picking it up to offer out to Horvath. "I think it's just a normal note. Touched it and it didn't do anything. I don't know what it means, though. There's...there's really no one around I can think of that would want to send me something like this."

He worries his lip. "I mean, I stole a couple things over the Winter, but..."

Could it possibly have something to do with the gems he took for Felix? He doesn't think so. The vendor seemed more like the type to grab him by the ear and drag him around to look for a manager than the type to send ominous messages.

"I thought it might be from my master, but this isn't his style, either."

[bitterguardian]

He'll let the bit about stealing things over Winter pass, because people were doing whatever they had to do to survive. The can is shifted to lean against his hip so he can pull out his reading glasses and study the note. "The Nexus leaves unfortunately quite broad possibilities. Have you asked around to see if anyone else has received anything similar?"

"This 'T' looks like it's meant to be a signature."

[prescription_grade]

...sure. Yeah. Danny was just in survival mode and would never steal under normal circumstances. We'll go with that.

He gives a weak little laugh. "I think the Nexus leaves broader possibilities than my own planet," he says.

And then he shakes his head. "No. Haven't asked. I just got it. But, I mean, I don't think I should be in a hurry to make it public, either...I don't want any more of this kind of attention if I can help it, you know?"

He nod in agreement. "I thought so, too, but I have no idea who it could be."

[bitterguardian]

Normal circumstances for Danny may not be too far off from survival mode, from some people's perspective. Horvath is willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, and he should probably run with that as far as it will take him.

"Mmnnn, a fair point. And I suppose if the one who sent it were watching to see if it was received, making it public would only reward their efforts. But on the other hand if it's not anybody you know, then the odds that this is a trick being played on a number of people seems likely. Just keep your ears open?" Somebody else, getting the same thing, just might ask around and thus do that job for Danny.

He eyes the box, and holds out a hand for it, but he does open it with care and then examines the card carefully without touching, first. There is no specific spell, to detect enchantments upon an object, but long familiarity with creating enchantments gives one a good eye for them. He opens his magical senses, studying the Tower card with every sense he has except touch.

[sweetcandygirl]

When Horvath opens his magical senses, he get a very strong feminine magical sense. And he can hear the whispers of a voice.

"seod eh fi neppah lliw tahw gnillet on si ereht .ti dnif t'nseod eh os ,efas drac siht peek ot evah ew."

[bitterguardian]

From Danny's perspective, Horvath's mild frown of concentration turns puzzled, and then he tilts his head a little- as if that would make it easier to hear something that is more in the mind than the ear anyway. He probes further, trying to get the words to repeat, as he spends a very long moment trying to puzzle out what language it is that he's hearing.

It takes him far longer than he'd like to admit to realize that it's simply English, but spoken in reverse.

Unfortunately, the card doesn't seem inclined to repeat the phrase, so he's forced to try to remember the sounds, repeating the litany over in his mind in an attempt to cement it. "I need... somewhere that I can sit and write..."

[prescription_grade]

What the hell is he doing? Danny watches Horvath with bewilderment. He's not touching the card--which is probably smart, admittedly--but he looks like he's listening to it and it's very clearly not doing anything.

He's smart enough to know not to interrupt, at least, and so he remains silent until Horvath says he needs a place to write.

"Um...well, there's the restaurant?" Danny gets up carefully, picking up his things. "You like eggrolls?"

Because that's all they serve. Aside from tea and soda. But there are definitely places to sit. He beckons Horvath after him.

[bitterguardian]

To be fair, a lot of subtler magic probably doesn't look like much from the outside, for the uninitiated. Horvath closes the box again, because he needs his cane to walk and he can't handle that plus the box plus writing things down all while standing in the grass. He waves a hand vaguely, a dismissive gesture, and grips the cane leaning against his hip. "I'm sure they have tea or something, and a table and chair is all I need."

He follows the boy, while hoping he's got some scrap of paper or notebook in his coat pocket. Usually he does, but he's absent-minded about these things.

At the restaurant, he's quick to find a table, and take a seat. If this isn't the kind of place where a waiter comes to the table, then he'll just make Danny go fetch for him.

[prescription_grade]

Danny's initiated, though! He's still young, and honestly not all that well-taught as of yet, but at least he's pieced a few things together on his own.

The tables in the restaurant are designed to be comfortable for a relatively short period of time, encouraging people to sit and nibble but not to linger over coffee. A glance at the menu shows eight or ten different types of eggrolls available in pairs, half-dozens, and dozens. There's soda, tea, coffee, and lemonade. Sauces are available. That's pretty much it.

Danny pats his pockets until he comes up with a stack of post-it notes with a business logo on them. He puts them in front of Horvath, then follows them up with a hot pink Sharpie. The cashier is already looking at them funny for not buying before sitting, so he hops up then and orders a couple drinks. He returns a moment later with iced tea for Horvath, a soda, and a plate of six shrimp rolls.

[bitterguardian]

Danny probably had some idea that Horvath was doing something, even if he couldn't duplicate the kind of intel-gathering that the older sorcerer was working at.

This is not quite the kind of tea that Horvath was thinking of, but he's not picky, and what Danny brings to the table actually doesn't look half bad at all. While Danny was fetching food and drinks, he's placed a quick charm over the box holding the card. The box is not invisible- anyone can see it sitting there on the table, it's not hidden away at all, but anyone seeing it barely notices it's there and the moment their gaze moves off it they forget it exists. It's a quick and dirty way of hiding something in plain sight, just because he's not sure the box will fit in his jacket. He reaches for the pen and paper that Danny offers, and still reciting the phrase in his mind he carefully tries to write it down phonetically.

On a second post-it, he copies down what he's written on the first, but reversed. The spelling is off because he was going off sound alone, so he has to read it back to work out what the actual words are.
On a third post-it, he more carefully writes down the corrected words themselves, so that when he's finally done he has a note that says, in pink sharpie:

We have to keep this card safe so e doesn't find it there is no telling what will happen if he does

Horvath slides the post-it pad over to Danny, with this final translation. "Did you hear this?"

[prescription_grade]

There are certainly places for proper tea in the Nexus, but Nuthin' But Eggrolls isn't one of them. They're lucky it's even an option.

Danny sits across from Horvath, fidgeting, but watching with rapt attention. He's nervous as hell, of course, but there's something about the older sorcerer that's reassuring. If anyone knows what he's doing, it's the Eldest Morga--wait, no. Eldest Merlinian, in this instance. And isn't that a hell of a trip?

Honestly, it makes Danny feel safer than he would with the Horvath from his own universe. Not a lot, but some.

Accepting the post-it across the table feels vaguely clandestine, but Danny's too nervous to have fun with that. He looks at the writing and shakes his head immediately. "No. There were no words I heard, just screams."

[bitterguardian]

Truly, the best place for a cup of tea is at home. Horvath suspects that Danny knows the difference between good tea, and tea that is not, just based on his accent alone. This is a place to sit and talk though, and that's all he was after.

Horvath sips his iced tea, looking thoughtful. "It came up under a little magical probing. A woman's voice, but I couldn't get it to repeat. The voice was speaking backwards, which could be significant, or could simply mean the magic is a little garbled. I'd prefer not to contact it directly without more precautions in place." Such as being somewhere that's not public, for a start.

[prescription_grade]

Danny crunches quietly on an eggroll. Even when he's nervous and has recently had the dry heaves, he can make himself eat. That's the genius of a teenage boy.

"I didn't probe it all that deep," he says. "As soon as I started looking at it it was like I couldn't not touch it. I dunno."

He eyes the card warily. "It's not a very Morganian thing, though, sending a warning like that. Especially if someone's talking about keeping the card safe."

"Wasn't any voice you recognized, though?"

[bitterguardian]

Horvath will try one eggroll, for the look of the thing, but he's going to leave the rest for Danny. Perhaps Danny will evenlet him give him money in exchange for fetching the food and drinks. He wants to do right by the kid, really.

"I'm afraid it wasn't familiar, but no, I don't think this is our kind of magic at all. Very likely it's from some other world." There's too many to choose from, in the Nexus, so statistically that was more likely anyway. "Would you be willing to let me take it off your hands, at least for now? I keep a number of dangerous magical artifacts in safe storage." It is technically Danny's, so he is not going to take it away if Danny says no.

[prescription_grade]

Danny just can't afford to be too proud where money is concerned. If it's offered, he'll take it. He's flirted with and cozied up to people Horvath's apparent age to get gifts and money before. He knows better than to try that with a powerful sorcerer, though. His best chance with Horvath is, ironically, encouraging his sense of altruism.

"Take it off my hands?" Danny stares at the card for a moment. He actually hadn't considered what to do with it yet, and what's got him unnerved is the idea that he might have to live with it. "Christ. Please take it off my hands. I don't want to be anywhere near it."

[bitterguardian]

At first appearances, Horvath might seem like an easy man to take advantage of in the generosity department. Possibly he is a little, because he knows that he can afford to be generous. On the other hand he's warier and less altruistic than he may seem. Danny has been done wrong by his kind though, and he feels some vague obligation to make amends for that. He is also angling to use that kindness to set the boy on a better path, and that's a grander goal that the abandoned apprentice may be unaware of.

For the moment, Horvath looks relieved, himself. "Thank you. I'll prod at it a bit more, and put it in the lockup. We'll have to keep our eyes open if this is only the first of multiple such... gifts."

[prescription_grade]

At this point, Danny figures he doesn't own Morganians any real loyalty. No one was going to pick up his apprenticeship if he'd stayed in New York, and no one was going to help him, and he's vastly better off here. He's not interested in switching sides either, though. Merlinians take duty very seriously, and he's not about that life. He has ambitions.

He could easily be swayed into fulfilling those ambitions while not harming anyone else and even actively giving a hand to people around him, though.

"Yessir, I'll let you know if I hear anything, but look...be careful. I mean, I know you know what you're doing, probably better than most of the people around here, but it's not our kind of magic. I'll feel bad if you get yourself in trouble on my account."

[bitterguardian]

Considering Horvath's history with his own apprentices, he'll take whatever he can get. Danny firmly against Morganians is enough for him.

For a moment he opens his mouth to give some reassuring words, but Danny has a very valid point, and he didn't manage to stick around this long by getting cocky. "You're right, of course. I think that if it gave you some sort of vision when you touched it, then it's probably going to require me to touch it myself to learn more. I'd prefer to do that in a controlled environment, and I'd probably better have somebody else on hand when I do, as backup."

If only Bel were around. But he's not, and won't be for years yet, so Horvath isn't sure yet just who to turn to.

[prescription_grade]

Oh, he's definitely not on the Morganian side at this point. There is so much more he can learn in the Nexus. They burned him and he doesn't need them. He can find his own way from here.

Not that he's going to say no to help.

He fidgets a little at Horvath's statement about researching it further. Danny's well quit of the thing, as far as he's concerned. He doesn't have to care what Horvath does with it. He's the most powerful and best-educated sorcerer on his planet, at least until Morgana breaks out of the Grimhold. He doesn't need Danny's help.

"...I mean, I'm nowhere close to an adept yet, but it seems like since I brought it to you I ought to help a little." He sounds incredibly reluctant, but sincere.

[bitterguardian]

Whether or not Danny actually gets to hand this mess off really depends on how targeted it is, and that is definitely something that Horvath is keeping in mind. He can whisk this thing off and lock it up, but that doesn't necessarily mean nothing else will show up in the kid's inbox.

"I appreciate that." Horvath says carefully, frowning a little as he adds, "I'm afraid I... don't have the resources, in terms of people, that I once did." What he really means is he has no friends or fellow sorcerers he can easily rely on to help with this. That's kind of a sad state of affairs, actually.