Kintsugi

[Nox]

Kintsugi (golden joinery) is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, a method similar to the maki-e technique. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.

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After the show Nox was up early. Coffee was the first thing on his list. Well, after he checked to see if Raffe's room was still empty. He thought about taking Raffe his phone. He'd caught up on all his texts and saw the information on both Visha and Raffe's location. It took every ounce of his being not to rush to the Paragon facility and make sure Raffe was alright. He was worried for more than one reason. He'd missed something when he last saw the man, he wanted so much to take back the past few weeks. But life was the not a video game you couldn't go back in the past and retry for a better ending. It would go where it went and he'd survive -- one way or another.

Nox relayed via his ghosted connection to Sage on his phone his plans for protecting Kallisti. It was grand and going to be a lot of work. It wasn't like protecting Dorian's estate. He couldn't just raise the walls and put down traps. Kallisti was a place of business in the middle of a busy neighborhood full of other businesses legal or otherwise. He'd walk the streets and make friends with all the owners -- or at least attempt to. Sage would have to find the blind spots, and they'd get as many cams as they could without resorting to hacking unwill participants. But Nox wouldn't stop Sage.

Sage also put in an order for sensors. Nox intended to drop the line just below the surface with the power the gods gifted him, and power it with the city's grid. It was a trickle of power. Sage didn't think it would be noticed.

All of those notes took place in the wee hours of the first morning after the show. The rest was the hard work of implementing his plan. But he couldn't spend all his time focusing on Kallisti, he still had to train Domovoi and Nox spent a few hours at the precinct doing that work before he stopped outside of Paragon that first day.

Nox stared at the glass front building and wondered where in it Raffe was. Sage wasn't able to get to him, but the video footage showed he'd gone in and never come out. Nox could rush in. Make a scene and try to get to Raffe. But what was the point. Nox sighed and sat down with a rock in his hand on a bench that overlooked a small greenery in the manicured gardenscape of the Paragon building. He didn't watch the building. Just sat running the rock through his fingers with the power flowing through it. It was idle task while he thought about what to say to Raffe. How he felt. How he could make it up to him. His mind tumbled with emotions and thoughts and he pocketed the rock without looking at the actions he preformed when the sun was just about to set. He had to get to work. Kallisti shifts were still important and he was tired.

Kallisti was still rocking from the night before. People were disappointed to find that Nox wore the black t-shirt like the rest of the bouncers. But he didn't really care. He smiled and flirted and was polite, but it was all just an act.

As the club shut its doors for the night Nox made his way to the Alamaz. He needed a fight. Needed to release some of the pent of energy. All the sexual frustration from the horde and his longing for Raffe piled into the first fight. He took a beating, but thankfully the only damage was to his pride, not so much his face. His opponent learned quickly that Nox had no intention of getting punched in the face again. The hard solid block of air crushed the guys hand. Opps.

Nox wasn't really sorry though he did apologize to the guy in the back. They shared a guy moment and then they were both back to whatever they had planned on doing. Nox pulled in two fights before he slunk back into the tunnels to check if any of the residents of tent city had returned. He was surprised to find a small make shift tent in a corner with a stuffed bunny tucked into the blankets, but there was no one there to be found.

Nox pulled upon the power and made a small room out of rock and stone from the cavern itself. It would remain standing long after the tarp used deteriorated. He wove a ball of light and hung it from the roof of the make shift home and set the ball to expire in 48 hours. And before he left he crafted a fire in a box that would die in 24 hours. At least tonight they'd sleep warm, if they returned.

He checked the cavern before leaving through the tunnels back to Kallisti to catch a few hours of sleep before returning to the same pattern -- coffee, protect Kallisti, domovoi, fret about Raffe whittling away at a rock in front of paragon, bouncing, fighting, building homes in tent city much the same as he had for the stuffed bunny who was still there the next day, though tossed to the side in a hasty retreat, and sleep.

It wasn't a life, but it was at least moving forward even if it killed him every second. The horder bashed at his skull. His emotions rattled his brain. And there was only one light, but even if it went out he'd move forward.