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[portalling]

stephen strange

crystals · correspondence · private scenes

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[portalling]

[ That motherfucker— ]

Looking for narcotics, you think?

[armd]

(Woah.) I think he was making sure there wasn't any lyrium in there. Barrow broke down the door.

(And her nose. And her girlfriend—)

[portalling]

[ There’s a charitable interpretation here about the other man, and a less charitable one. But perhaps it’s both. Humans, multitudes, etc. Dryly, ] Yeah, that’s why we moved the supply.

[ But more to the point: ]

If he was able to get through it that quick, though, then yeah, we need better locks for the future. I haven’t expected elfroot and embrium and such to be valuable enough that someone might be after them, but our supplies are low enough as-is. Maybe I’ll see if I can find a dwarven locksmith.

[armd]

Yeah. (Okay, good. This is the outcome she wanted.) No point having locks on them if they can be picked.

(And, go back a sec.) Why do you have the supply at all...?

[portalling]

Contingencies, [ he says. One neat, tidy word to cover all the eventualities. ]

The templars are largely in charge of their own regimen, but it’s useful for the infirmary to have a supply and know how to administer it, in case they’re— incapacitated and unable to do it themselves.

[armd]

Right.

(It makes sense. But a suggestion:) Maybe we shouldn't keep it in the infirmary while we're keeping lyrium recovery patients there too.

[portalling]

And we didn’t. It’s in a separate storeroom elsewhere in the Gallows, for that very reason.

[ A pause. Strange has been carrying around Mobius’ neatly-written notes for a year and a half now, but between recent regrettable developments, between everyone else except Orlov still being on the lyrium…

He pauses. Considers, before adding: ] I have a guide on how to use a templar’s philter box and prepare a dosage. Would you like to learn? It’s not exactly part of the regular healer curriculum, but I figure— more of the people at the infirmary ought to know. Just in case.

[armd]

Yeah, that'd be good. (If there are politics hidden behind this decision Abby doesn't think on them — to her, it's simply a measure of being prepared for anything.

... And because she wants to complain a tiny bit, actually, she adds,) He knocked out Clarisse.

[portalling]

( Mildly alarmed, catching up: ) Which one? Lazar or Barrow?

[armd]

Barrow. (Why would Lazar—)

[portalling]

Ah.

Yeah, he was— pretty out of it, by the end there. Didn’t realise the guy was quite so strong.

( Broken doors, smashed furniture, a mess for the Head Healer by the time he made it back to the infirmary. )

[armd]

I've seen him smash through a brick wall before.

[portalling]

—Wait, really?

( And not when he was in a crazed lyrium mania? )

[armd]

Are you in the middle of something else or something?

(LISTEN)

[portalling]

( Another sigh, a rustle on the other end of the line, and he’s now put down whatever he was half-working on at the same time. Time to lock in or whatever the youth say. )

I’m usually multi-tasking. But okay, I’m here now. Yes. I’m just a little surprised by the brick wall; that’s startlingly strong.

Is La Rue alright?

her surname is actually Anderson now 👰

[armd]

Surprised me too at the time. (Shit was cray.)

Yeah, she's — she'll be fine. Demigods have hard heads.

[portalling]

I keep forgetting she’s a demigod. She seems so— normal. Thor and Loki were very aggressively Nordic gods from another planet.

[armd]

She seems normal to you. (Affectionate.)

Loki was also, like, a million years old. That'd make anybody weird.

[portalling]

Exactly.


( Although that suddenly raises a question: )

Wait, I never actually asked— it’s not exactly a question on the medical questionnaire, maybe I should add it— is she immortal? Barring injury, etc.

[armd]

She's not. I don't think we've had anybody who is actually immortal since Loki, have we...?

[portalling]

Hmm. I don’t think so; or if they are, they haven’t mentioned it to me.

( A beat, realising the familiarity he’d heard in her voice: ) Did you know him when he was here? Loki.

[armd]

Yeah. (Surprise!) We were close.

[portalling]

( There’s a fleeting moment of good sense where he might not mention it, but then, )

Maybe the wrong time to mention I once teleported him into a portable toilet —

[armd]

(With sudden delight,) You what?

[portalling]

( finally someone has the correct reaction to this )

He and his brother, Thor, were trespassing on Earth. I helped them out so they’d leave and go back to Asgard, but Loki called me a second-rate sorcerer and came at me with his daggers— figured he deserved a little bit of time-out after that, so I banished him to a magically-locked port-a-potty. Harmless, really.