nexus_sages | (no subject)

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When Hunter made his first appearance in the Nexus, it was in The Parklands. And today, he is sitting in the same spot near the water. He has a canvas set up, and is working on a large piece depicting a mother pushing a child on a swing set. There is also a large collection of books near him. Obviously he had been studying over something of importance.

He gets to the point where the canvas is nearly complete, when he stops and places his brushes to the side. After studying the canvas for a moment, Hunter reaches out and touches the canvas, right in the lower left corner.

He closes his eyes and concentrates, and after a moment, the picture on the canvas comes to life. There is also a soft glow on his arm, where a few tiny roses bloom to life on the rose bush.

But the moment doesn't last long. It ends very quickly. And Hunter sighs a little frustrated. "What am I doing wrong?"

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"More what?" Jim asks, tilting his head curiously. Hunter looks fairly invested in this project, so it must be something important to him.

"More that I can do. I just am not sure what..."

"You'll figure it out. You're a clever guy." Jim may not have anything he can do to help, but he's always been a people person, and a year of captaincy has only reinforced his desire to encourage others.

Hunter grabs one of his paint rags to start cleaning off his hands. "Thank you. Even a small step is a sign that I am getting closer to the answers that I am seeking."

Jim watches him clean up, and looks consideringly at the painting. "Looking for answers means there's usually a question. About that... lingering magic you mentioned?"

"Yes. About the lingering magic. And how it can be used."

"I think, it is connected to how I create."

"Is that a hunch?" Jim won't judge him if it is. He's relied on his own instincts for years, and it has often had little to do with logic or evidence.

"Totally a hunch. But I really don't have anything else to go on." Hunter shrugs his shoulders lightly.

"Hey, hunches are nothing to sneeze at," Jim says, raising his eyebrows. "The human brain's great at putting little clues together for you, even if you don't know what they are. Listen to your gut and it'll usually work out."

Hunter has to smile softly, that Jim is supporting him, even as unusual this situation might be to him.

"You listen to your gut a lot?"

"Oh yeah, all the time," Jim says with a grin. "That's why Spock and I are such a good team. He brings the logic and I bring the spontaneity. It's let me win about a third of our chess games together."

"And what kind of logic would he recommend in my situation?"

"Oh man, asking the hard questions," he says, chuckling a little. "He's very scientific, so he'd probably come up with a whole schedule of experiments for you to run on yourself, to narrow down your limits or figure out what you're even capable of."

"Even something like that would be better than nothing." Hunter notes softly. He sits by his stack of books and pats the seat beside him, inviting Jim to sit down too.

"Have you told him about your journey to the Nexus yet?"

Of course, Jim won't turn down the invite, making himself comfortable. "Not yet... I really don't know how to even bring it up, never mind not sound crazy. Alternate universes are one thing, something we actually got scientific proof for, to boot. If I start telling people I've been to a multiverse where magic is real and eating the wrong cookie can turn you into a dog or something, they'd take me off-duty pending a psych eval."

"It can be a difficult thing to bring up... especially considering some of the things that you have told me about your universe."

Jim shrugs a little. "Starfleet's known for running into all sorts of crazy shit out in the universe, things we'd never figured were possible, so it's not like they wouldn't believe me if I had proof. But I would need real verifiable evidence."

"What kind of verifiable evidence?"

"Oh, you know, scientific scans, physical samples, additional witnesses, that kinda thing." He shrugs again and leans back slightly. "I've had to keep my mouth shut like this before. I met this Spock from the future about a year back, and he wouldn't come back with me to vouch for me not being crazy, so I couldn't tell anyone about him."

"That must have been unusual. How did that happen?"

Oh boy, that's opening a can of worms that Jim isn't that eager to get into, if only because it's such a long story. But he definitely doesn't want to just brush off the question, either. "Remember that ship I mentioned, the one my dad gave his life to delay long enough for everyone else to escape?"

"Yes." Hunter patiently waits for Jim to continue his story.

"It was from the future too. Over a century out of its time. Spock's ship and the Narada were both caught in a kind of wormhole, and they came out twenty-five years apart. I ran into the other Spock and he did this... mind meld thing," he says, miming putting a hand against the meld points on his own face, "and he showed me the future he knew. It's all different now, Nero changed things when he first arrived, but it was proof enough for me."

"That must have been quite strange to have visions of a future, that could have been yours, but has now changed."

"Very weird," Jim agrees. "I still get flashes of memories that aren't mine, sometimes."

"Ambassador Spock said I couldn't tell the other Spock about his existence 'under no circumstances,' so of course I thought the universe might implode or something if they met. Turns out that crafty old bastard just wanted me to step up and earn the captaincy ASAP because I found out a few months ago that both Spocks have been calling each other, like, all the time." Jim sounds exasperated, though fond, of his first officer and said officer's future self, though.