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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text

[jumpthegun]

This morning.

permatext

[thewarningafter]

Did you believe you could do it?

[jumpthegun]

Yes. He put a giant screw through his head in the first place, and it was supposed to be a dream. You can do impossible things in dreams. And he told me he thought there was a chance if I followed his instructions.

[thewarningafter]

You didn't know.

[jumpthegun]

I'm a doctor. I should have known. I'm not here for reassurance. I just thought you should know. If I ever seem off again, please inform everyone that I'm not fit to practice medicine.

[thewarningafter]

[The other doctor's's self recrimination quite suddenly pales in Stephen's mind as he realizes his own culpability. He'd known. Stephen had known that he was acting off, telling people that he didn't believe they were real. He should have known that something like this was a possibility, that he could be pushed to do something he never would have considered while in his right mind. It had never occurred to him that someone would ask him to do something like this.

There's another delay in his reply.]

I will. Will you do the same for me?

[jumpthegun]

Yes.

[What more needs to be said?]

[thewarningafter]

[What more, indeed.]

I'm sorry I didn't stop you.

[jumpthegun]

You didn't know you needed to. This is on me, not you.

[thewarningafter]

You weren't the one in your right mind.

[jumpthegun]

Stephen.

[The exasperation is almost audible coming off of that one word.]

[thewarningafter]

[This is when Stephen would type the other man's name back at him just to be difficult. He freezes, hand hovering above the screen as he struggles to reconcile the impulse, the feeling that it's on the tip of his tongue fingers with the utter inability to recall what that name is.

Different response, then.]

That's my name.

[jumpthegun]

I didn't tell you to give you a guilt trip. This is my fault and my burden to bear. Get it out of your head that you've got some sort of culpability.

[thewarningafter]

Then how about you take your own advice? You were delusional.

[jumpthegun]

[John starts to type out 'I've been delusional for the past two months, I should be able to tell,' but thinks better of it.]

Fine.

[And clearly that will be it. Because he's not just lying for the sake of shutting down the argument.]

[thewarningafter]

Yeah. It is.

[jumpthegun]

[John feels himself bristling. He needs to end this conversation before he lashes out at Stephen.]

I'll leave you to it, then, doctor. Thank you for taking my message.