IC inbox for Snowblind

[thewarningafter]

@beyonce

You've reached Dr. Stephen Strange. Leave a message and my secretary will get back to you.

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[thewarningafter]

Right, there she is.

[Your database of people is not weird at all, Stephen.]

Yeah, that's fine. Four people shouldn't be too many and you've already gone far enough out of your way.

[nursetemple]

It's my job to come to people. I don't exactly have a plan, you know. I just go where I'm needed, alone or not. I don't mind.

[thewarningafter]

Yeah? You're not an explorer, then?

[nursetemple]

There are more qualified people to do that, isn't there? It's better for me to be on the sidelines. Make sure I can help if one of them gets hurt. D'you think I should be exploring?

[thewarningafter]

I think we all need to do our best to help find the way out of here.

[That's not an answer.]

[nursetemple]

I'm of more use helping out people if they get hurt.

[thewarningafter]

[He shrugs one shoulder.]

You're probably right.

[But that's not what he's particularly good for anymore, he thinks privately.]

[nursetemple]

Hey, if you want to go exploring and adventuring, be my guest. You're more than welcome to, the more the merrier. I just think I'm more useful doing what I do than trying to solve puzzles.

[thewarningafter]

[He grins to himself. So he's that transparent.]

It's more my area these days.

[nursetemple]

Yeah? Doctors Without Borders type?

[thewarningafter]

Mmmmm...


[He sucks in a breath, baring his teeth in a facetious grimace.]

Not quite.

[nursetemple]

Oh yeah, nevermind, I remember. You're too much of a hot shot to go lose yourself in the jungle. So what do you do instead, then?

[thewarningafter]

[He could prevaricate. He could soften it, make it sound less fanciful. He's hardly kept secret of his current "job" since getting here, though, so instead he'll simply explain with an entirely straight face:]

Well, after I lost most of the use of my hands in a car crash and Western medicine failed me, I went to Nepal and learned how to harness magical forces previously beyond my comprehension. These days I'm in charge of guarding a sanctum designed to help generate a shield that protects the Earth from extradimensional attack.

[nursetemple]

[Claire blinks, eyes wide as she absorbs the sudden onslaught of information.]

Oh.

[She's met a guy who can smell people from blocks away. Who can distinguish different voices and words in conversations miles away from where he stands. So magic shouldn't be something that surprises her.]

I didn't realize we had magic, in our world.

[She's dumbstruck - that's all she can think of saying.]

[thewarningafter]

If it's any comfort, neither had I. And magic's just a word; it's all just applied metaphysics.

[nursetemple]

Oh. So you can explain it with science?

[thewarningafter]

Ah...no.

[Not...science, exactly.]

Kind of?

[nursetemple]

[She leans in, resting her chin on her hand, her elbow on her knee.]

Then, how?

[thewarningafter]

It involves aligning your spirit to shape reality.

[Just gonna float that past her to see whether she's going to laugh at him.]

[nursetemple]

[She blinks, once, twice, a smile twitching at the corners of her lips. She presses her hand to her mouth, pursing her lips.]

And opening your chakras?

[thewarningafter]

That's generally how you go about aligning your spirit, yeah.

[nursetemple]

[She can't help it, she chuckles.]

You're telling me if I keep on meditating I can use magic?

[thewarningafter]

There's a little more to it than that, but...kind of?

I can show you. I mean, I can't show you, but I can do a hell of a light show.

[nursetemple]

But you couldn't teach me, if I said I wanted to learn? Is it not something innate in all of us?

[thewarningafter]

Be kind of hard here, but...yeah. I could. It just takes study and practice.