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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[nursetemple]

[Curiosity piqued, she raises an eyebrow, sitting up straighter.]

What is it?

[thewarningafter]

I have some sutures that are going to need to come out in a few days. If you're in the area....

[nursetemple]

Sure. [She doesn't hesitate.] Happy to be of service.

[thewarningafter]

[No questions? He's relieved it's that easy and simple.]

Great, thanks. I'm heading for the hospital right now, but I'll probably only be there about a day before I come back north.

[nursetemple]

[Not her job to ask questions. She doesn't really care, even if she might ask later, just out of curiosity.]

All right. Got a couple of things to take of, but we could meet around the school in a few days.

[thewarningafter]

I'll keep you updated. I wanted to go up that way for food anyhow. I'm getting kind of sick of the junk food from the convenience store.

[nursetemple]

Norfinbury is definitely not on any 'healthy, clean living city' kind of list, is it.

[She pauses for a moment.]

Okay, we can meet around there. Do you prefer if I go alone, or do you not mind if my companions join us?

[thewarningafter]

They're supposed to feed schoolkids real food these days, right? It's got to be better than twinkies and ding dongs.

I'd say the more the merrier, but there's the danger of the anomalies agreeing with me. How many companions are we talking about?

[nursetemple]

It is, but it's still nothing fresh. I guess the admin doesn't want to waste resources on stocking produce that would go rotten.

[It's sensible, but Claire has never craved vegetables as much as she does here. They all have so many deficiencies with what they eat here.]

Two. Angel and Rhys. Have you met them before?

[thewarningafter]

No. Two's not bad, though.

[He'll just casually pull up his census in another tab while the video's still running, pausing a moment as he scrolls through and --]

Oh. Rhys is that dickcheese guy, huh?

[nursetemple]

[She has to laugh again, a small chuckle.]

Yes, he is. Angel is @guardian, I believe. Good eggs, the two of them. They helped me a lot when my hands didn't work. I owe them.

[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.]