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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"Calling each other? How does that work?"

Oh, right, 2017 dude won't know about intergalactic communication. "Subspace frequency," he explains. "It's like a really long-distance... telephone." He hopes that's the right word. "It's not always instantaneous so sometimes you've got to record a video message instead, but we've been sticking to Federation territory so it's all synced up just fine."

"And you can use that subspace frequency to talk to a past self?" That is the part that is really confusing Hunter.

"What?" Jim is confused before he realizes where the problem is. "Oh, old Spock is still around. He can't go back."

"Well... I feel a little lost." Hunter blushes slightly. "I didn't realize he was stuck in your timeline."

"Hey, I lived it, and sometimes I still don't know what the hell's going on," Jim says with a shrug and a small smile of apology. It's at least partly his fault for not being clear. But his smile falters a little as he says, "We don't know if the wormhole only goes one way, but he didn't have a way to make another one. And with the future changed, we don't know if the one he came from even exists anymore. But he's doing good work, from what I hear. He's helping set up a new Vulcan colony."

"It must be like walking on egg-shells all the time, all the same for him."

"I have a couple friends, Jack included, who are from a future timeline. I have one friend who while he is near adulthood, he can visit the Nexus and bump into his own mother, from a past timeline where he is only a child."

"Yeah, I think it is. He says he doesn't want to tell us anything that'd change our destinies or something like that, so he won't talk about old missions and stuff. But he doesn't mind just talking, and I don't blame him. He's really old, older than humans usually get. He lost his versions of us a long time ago." Ambassador Spock hadn't needed to tell Jim how deep the pain of that loss runs. He'd felt it, as strongly as Spock himself, the moment the old Vulcan's mind touched his.

Jim listens with interest to Hunter's mention of his friends. "That's gotta be really weird. The Department of Temporal Investigations would have absolute kittens over something like that."

Listening to how Ambassador Spock has lost people because of his difference aging process reminds him a little of Jack's own challenges. And Hunter's own good mood drops a little.

But then he tilts his heads, managing a slight smile. "Oh I am sure their situation would be one to break all sorts of regulations. On top of the temporal time difference... his mother is psychic. She can sense the future, of her own future.."

Jim raises his eyebrows. "Oh man, crossing your own timeline when your mom can literally read minds. I don't envy the guy."

"He and his siblings were unable to get away with anything, while they were growing up. I had asked her to help me with a dress for my best friend, since she is a fashion design, and I thought for sure she would straight out ask me about my then-crush on her son."

Jim likes this topic way better than the depressing subject of Ambassador Spock. "I take it she didn't."

"Nope. Something that I am grateful for..." Hunter smiled. "Since it was awkward enough to talk to him about my crush."

Ah, young love. Jim smiles a little. But Hunter called it a 'then-crush'... so not anymore? "He still around for you?"

"I haven't seen him in a while." But that is the nature of the Nexus sometimes.

"I do still care for him. I always will."

"It is just a little complicated." Hunter is sensing that his story is distracting Jim a little from his own sorrows. So he continues. "Have you heard about doppelgangers?"

Jim tilts his head a little, wondering at the shift in the topic at hand. He's sure it's related, but he's not sure how just yet. "It's a word that means look-alike."

"His appearance, is very similar to how I used to look like before my curse."

Wait, what. Of all the things Jim was expecting to hear, that wasn't one of them. "That's a hell of a coincidence."

"It is the Nexus. I am sure weirder things have happened."

"Yeah, I'm starting to get that." Though Jim hasn't seen any of the real weird stuff yet.

"Anyway, to make a slightly long story a little shorter, when we last talked we left it as a flirtatious friends thing."

"I have collected a few flirtatious friends in my time here."

"I'm not surprised, with a good-looking guy like you." Jim smiles at him, nudging his shoulder with his own.

Hunter laughs, slipping his arm around Jim's waist at that point. "My 21st Century mind wants to clarify there is a difference between friends you flirt with... and friends with benefits."

"Hey, I don't sleep with everyone I flirt with," Jim protests with a grin, leaning into the touch a little. "I probably flirted with half my crew back when we were cadets, and I haven't slept with any of them." Which is a damn shame, of course.

His fingers lightly stroke up and down Jim's waist. "It is a little bit of a shame... in a way. Especially when you have this great connection, and the snappy wit and banter... but all it is destined to be is just flirting."