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[thewarningafter]

@beyonce

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

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audio | afternoon 199

[thewarningafter]

[Stephen didn't deliberately ignore this. It was a weird night, and he sort of threw his tablet away in the morning. He's...also not sure how to respond, really.]

Why are you apologizing?

[jumpthegun]

[Yeah, John's still not using audio, not with just Sherlock in tow.]

Because I lied to you without meaning to. I'm sorry.

[And lying is important right now.]

[thewarningafter]

You know, it's not actually a lie if you believe it to be true.

[Did you come here to have an argument, John? Because your semantics are all wrong.]

Well, congrats. And condolences. You ever deliver that punch to its rightful owner?

[jumpthegun]

[He's not here for a semantics argument, thanks.]

It's coming.

[Eventually. When he knows he'll be able to stop after just one. There's a long pause because he poses the question he really came here for. It's a question he's not sure he really wants an answer to, but he'll ask, anyway.]

In the stories about Sherlock Holmes that you've read, does Dr. Watson get married while he's away? Does he have a wife?

[thewarningafter]

[He'll chuckle over the first bit, but the question gets a long pause on Stephen's end as well.]

I'm not going to lie to you, but I am going to remind you that no matter how well it's lined up so far, what I have are stories. And I'm just going to ask you once -- are you really, really sure that you want me to tell you how I think things turn out?

[jumpthegun]

[There's a pause on John's end, as well, but the reply comes eventually, and it may be very telling about the state of things in the Holmes-Watson house.]

You won't lie to me. I want to know.

[thewarningafter]

[There's a little sigh at the head of the message.]

Yes. In the stories, yes, Dr. Watson has a wife. I think that's earlier, though, before Holmes leaves.

[And maybe a little later that she dies...but Stephen has already made up his mind to answer only what he's specifically asked.]

[jumpthegun]

[So there is someone. Maybe the timing's off, but there's someone.]

What's her name?

[thewarningafter]

Mary. Morstan? Definitely Mary, anyway.

[jumpthegun]

[Mary. Okay. Okay. That's fine. This is fine. Everything is just fine.]

Okay. Thank you, doctor.

[thewarningafter]

You're welcome.

[He should say something. What, though? He has only an inkling of what this is about.

So he'll take the coward's way out of that conversation by changing the subject to something that is, in his defense, also important.]

I spoke with one of the new arrivals yesterday -- name of Karkat, goes by the handle carcinoGeneticist, all one word, capital G. He's blood type O minus and he's willing to donate. Definitely not human, but we know that's not a problem now.

[jumpthegun]

[Oh. That's very good to know. John finds he... can't really summon the ability to care all that much. But there's Frisk and there's Kid.]

I see. Thank you for finding that out. I'll follow up with him and see about setting up a transfusion.

[There's a pause.]

Or I'll ask Claire to if she's closer to him.

[thewarningafter]

[He might not know John all that well, but it's pretty obvious when he's getting a rote response.]

Great. Yeah. Obviously.

[jumpthegun]

Goodbye, Dr. Strange. Have a pleasant evening.

[You know? As you do in Snowhell.]

[thewarningafter]

[Sigh.]

You too.