Dr Strange is Master of Mystic and Martial Arts (icanlose) wrote in angellogs, @ 2017-06-18 23:33:00
Who: Stephen Strange and Balthier When: Current Where: A hole in the wall coffeehouse haunt of Stephen’s. What: Stephen’s interested in Balthier’s magical equipment and the proposal he made about it a few weeks ago. They meet for drinks, and Stephen’s shockingly sympathetic to Balthier’s story (and apparently likes green tea smoothies and phone games. Who knew?) Rating/Warnings: None really. Vague discussions of Balthier’s imprisonment and Stephen’s injuries. Status: Complete
Stephen’s admittedly a little curious about what’s all going on with Balthier now that they’ve had a meeting arranged, and while he wouldn’t call himself an expert on other worlds and their brands of magic and the underlying forces, he does consider that he has a better idea that the average person, which helps, and keeping that in mind, along with the fact he’s curious, ‘curious af’ as the youth say, he’s almost eager to see what’s going on here, at least to ask more questions and all the like.
He’s also learned a bit about blending in when he’s not working, and so he’s lacking a lab coat, with his cape carefully folded in the bottom of the shoulder bag he’s carrying, since he wouldn’t dream of leaving it anywhere alone for too long, even though it can’t exactly DO much damage by itself, and he’s grabbed a spot in a quiet corner, near the currently unused fireplace in the coffee place he likes, with a green tea smoothie thing in front of him, absently tapping at his phone screen while he waits.
Balthier takes a little bit to show up, but he does slide over to join Stephen. It looks like he picked up a small plate of tiny petit fours and some coffee. “Sorry about that. Am I really late?” He looks - less frazzled than he did last time, but still a little thin and tired.
He’s wearing basically the same clothes as last time. Then again, a vest like thing and a long sleeved shirt just feels comfortable. He tried a t-shirt while he was over with Basch and it was odd.
“Hey.” Stephen glances up at him, giving him a bit of a nod, and casually sweeping his finger across a row of what might be little yellow flowers, surrounded by other icons arranged over a grid, not that he’s paying too much attention to… “Damn.” He mutters, as a sound tells him his current attempt at the puzzle solving is over. “Good timing though.” he admits, pocketing the phone for now, and glancing Balthier over.
“You look exhausted,” He starts. “Better than you were, but I mean, I half wondered at the time if you were waiting on the pharmacy after getting discharged right then, or something. “ And that’s not being glib so much as it’s being brutally honest. “Did you get here okay? It’s a bit of a hole in the wall from the outside, I know, but they’re decent. The lavender macarons are great when they’re fresh. “ They remind him, for some inexplicable reason, of the Ancient One. Which reminds him of the fact she almost didn’t take him as a student because of what an arrogant ass he was, and that he still needs to work on that.
“So, you had a few things you wanted to talk about in more detail, right? Also, I checked and there’s no real way you can hear a thing we’re talking about over here. In theory, this is definitely the place I’d have all my secret magical meetings. “ And that sounds a LITTLE glib, but Stephen’s the only sorcerer here, he’s allowed to do that, a bit. He knows how serious it really is. And that it doesn’t have a place in what’s going on here.
“So, you’d mentioned you know a magic user having problems and..”
“And part of her issue is that she’s scared of losing control of her magic.” Balthier fishes around to dig out a box and slides it across the table to Stephen. “I can’t design warding to help with it quickly, and I think it’d be better to talk to someone who’s actually magical with - that general idea? But - something that might help stop a crisis situation might be good for her. The placebo effect?”
Balthier looks at the box and slides the cakes over. “If you want one too? They looked good.”
“Scared of losing control.” Stephen’s frown is thoughtful, more than anything else. “That’s one thing I’ve never really experienced. Well, in the same way. I was maybe a LITTLE nervous about audiences seeing me fuck things up, if my teacher was around, she didn’t...she expected that I was going to mess up a lot before I got things, and I mean. I DID, but having other people there...It’s not the same as being flat out terrified. Warding I could help with, I’m thinking. Even if I can’t manipulate her KIND of magic, specifically...there’s a LOT to say for the psychological barriers we set up for ourselves.”
Especially considering how YOUNG she sounds from this. Sometimes the best thing to have when you’re young and scared, is the knowledge that there are people around who are willing both to teach you and to take responsibility when things go wrong. Stephen’s not sure he can go into specifics but he could possibly help get her GROUNDED.
“The placebo DOES do a lot. Especially when they’re younger. And strategies, for getting things back into control...I can probably do a little there. “ He’s a bit more interested in the box at the moment. “IS this the...what you mentioned?” Absently, he does accept a cake, with a little smile, though he’s setting it aside for just the moment, focusing on what’s in front of them instead.
“It is.” Balthier hesitates. “Skin contact with the stone, or open wounds in the stone would junction it. The latter was something we were warned about. If you can junction at all. It should be safe to poke at beyond that.” He sighs. “She’s - I think fifteen or younger? Ellie. From what she said, her homeland would basically imprison mages who were out of control. So - there’s an understandable trauma.”
He sips his coffee and leans back in the chair with a wince. “I think if I’d let her access to this, I’d want to have - you or some other mages around here know how to break the connection with the armband. I couldn’t get it off until I got warped here, but that’s because they knew I knew the tricks.”
“Junctioning sounds stable on the first part, but the second?” Stephen leans forward a little, absently sipping his drink as he does. “Does that do anything to the wounds themselves. It’d probably be a nightmare if...Oh geez, ELLIE.” He nods, picturing her the way she was after Aedan had been rescued, all frail and serious and…
“Do you know, I’d thought she was older at first? Of the two of them, at least. I was on call when they brought her brother though. Poor both of them. That was one hell of a situation to be around.” He shakes his head a little. “And that’s the imaginable scenarios. Is it me or is real life always slightly more horrifying? I mean, you can’t really divorce it in your head, can you? More like welcome to your own personal Hell, keep your hands and feet inside the handcart at all times. And that explains...so much about the magic. Growing up, knowing that, and then finding out you ARE one...I thought MY little sister’s puberty was horrifying enough. “ He says that last bit with a faint smile.
“But I agree, you’d need a failsafe. Especially that young. Impulse control and teenagers and all the rest. It’s too bad none of my people are here. I think every sorcerer has that moment where they’re overcome with the fact they CAN do things and they want to do more and try more and….everybody gets to be really good at stopping you from accidentally breaking magical laws and protecting you from yourself until you know better. I can see that going in the reverse. If she’s that scared and has that good of an option to block it... “
“She still probably needs training, but - I’m not the guy for that. I could try, but I’m still not the guy for that.” Balthier sighs. “I’m afraid it’s dangerous. So - better to have people know about it? Know enough to protect themselves.”
The armband is silver and decorated slightly crudely with some ridges. The gem is a sort of waxy yellow green color, and a bit scratched. The facets are very precise though.
“No,” Stephen agrees. “I think she’s had SOME training, on and off. Prince Sebastian mentioned knowing some people, but the mage from his world who is here doesn’t like him very much, so that one’s right out. I can maybe try to take a look. I think...well, I’d LIKE to think that I could help her, maybe when my new place is ready for people, but in the meantime, it’d help to meet her again, see how things go. But for now….What DO I need to know?”
Stephen’s letting his hand draw near the armband and then he’s jerking back a little, looking surprised. “Whoa. That’s ...a little more than I’d personally thought...sorry, I was being judgmental of your word in my head again, even though I didn’t know anything about it. And I’d sort of convinced myself I’m untouchable. Which…” he absently waves a gloved hand. “KIND of a dumb thing.”
Balthier’s eyes widen. “You can feel it from there?” He didn’t realize that the range was that wide. “I was wearing it on my left arm. Noah would be better for this. He’s got the - it looks like a burn from wearing the gear.” He gestures at the armband.
“More like I know what I’m looking for in terms of…” Stephen pauses. “Do you do a lot with auras? There’s an energy signature of sorts here. It’s not BAD this close, or uncomfortable, just something I’m attuned to? And this stuff burns you? I don’t know if...People SAY no pain, no gain is a thing, but anything that might cause that for people...I’m not necessarily cool with that.”
But, Stephen doesn’t think a total ban’s a fantastic solution, either. Sometimes you DO have to prescribe a medicine or treatment with side effects, and sometimes you have to perform and subject a patient to risky surgery, when the end results are supposed to be better ones.
“The risks need to be outweighed by the benefits. I think they’d do that for her, possibly, I mean, I think you know her well enough and I’d like to check, just with my medical opinion such as it is, but...you have a lot of ways to mitigate things where you’re from? It’d help.”
“The burn was supposedly just from - the junctioning over time. But - apparently it’s visible. The magical signature, I mean, not just the burn.” Balthier selects a cake to nibble. “Do you want me to pick it up?”
“It’s your circus and your monkey.” Stephen says, “Meaning, I’m not trying to blow you off but that’s a thing that’s up to you. I’m not going to tell you what to do here. You’re the expert in this case. Do you feel okay doing that?”
Balthier takes a deep breath and picks up the armband. “I can - show you how to junction it? Just - let me know if something looks deeply worrying?” He’s not - if Sebastian can feel the hungry pull on the nethicite. “You know - I should treat this scientifically. For me, I can’t see the nethicite’s passive Mist absorption without Mist being present, or having it junctioned. I’m guessing - you’re picking something up though?”
“I’ve got a feel for the fact it’s powerful, from this angle. At least, given the relative size and shape and weight we’re talking. “ Stephen smiles a little, remembering his first real fight while using his new abilities. “You’re presenting some problems that seem like they’re, well, not world threatening anyway. I can live with that, I think. But okay, your Mist...we’ve got a set of underlying rules and what we can do with energy placements in the world itself. It sounds like the Mist is more of a actual measureable thing?”
Balthier nods. “Mist is - what they call magic. It’s ambiently in the world, and in high concentrations it’s visible. Some entities, the Espers and - things not from this dimension, tend to appear in areas heavy in mist. I think the theory was that they’re - it’s sort of like opening a door and you feel the cold from outside sort of dimensional gateways. High concentrations of mist can be deadly. Magicite -” He pulls off a ring to slide it over. “That slowly absorbs mist, and you cast from that storage, but it will wear out with time. Nethicite does the same absorption at a drastically faster rate. To the point where I could stop a spell by holding the right bit of nethicite.”
He takes a deep breath and tries to remember his father’s lectures. “I - didn’t really use nethicite much. I was usually working with basically - channels for magic or electricity to follow or actual physical items that might have a magical component. So draining my own personal magic was counter productive and wouldn’t really feed nethicite that much. But I heard lectures and attempts to sell it to the army. So - limits, warnings. That kind of thing. The - story of how the stuff exists is - probably unbelievable.”
“With us, it’s more the fact that...well, for people who don’t want to call it magic, we use the term program, among others.” Stephen explains. “You can sort of think of things in...whatever terms you’d like and that help. The Ancient One, my teacher, and the teachers I had who helped her..she was very much about...your individual experience filters into a LOT. It’s a thing I kind of want to keep in mind so..” He nods,, listening.
“It sounds like it’s a good idea, not to do it then. Working with channels and physical things. That sounds like a reasonable fix. It’s like the way we use tech, isn’t it? But so ambient thing in the world. How’s the armband working here without it? Do you think any got in? Because I wonder...if it’s on another dimension..I could possibly reach it if it’s leaking too much. And ooh origin stories. They usually ARE complicated and weird in parts.”
Balthier looks thoughtful. “I know it is working, or was, because when -” He trails off. “I did commit a mild felony, I’m fairly certain. When I arrived, I ended up inside of someone’s - I think it was a vacation house. So I ended up letting myself out, and before that had a shower and a cup of tea. Stole a shirt and some shoes. So -” He sighs. “I arrived. And - I couldn’t talk still. I assumed it was because it was draining my magic, or there was enough ambient power here that it was still working. I haven’t tested it since then.”
He takes a breath. “Summing up the story, there’s - people who lived on Ivalice, and left it for another dimension. They’re - trying to play chess with the people. One of them got bored with the game and taught my father how to make something like what the favored players had. That’s - the simplest. So it’s - manufactured based off of something carved from a stone provided by the Occuria.” And he’s - avoiding some of the details on that that he thinks Shuan would find worrying. Stick to the interdimensional aspect, perhaps? “The story was that entering the mist would kill you, and high concentrations of it can kill you or drive you mad.”
“Well, mild felonies aren’t…” Stephen pauses. “I THINK you have to steal over a certain amount to commit one, and probably actually DO the breaking in. Last I checked, you can’t be arrested for arriving here. But…” He nods. “You’d have probably been, I don’t know, did you have clothes in your prison? Uniforms? Couldn’t have been comfortable. They look worse than scrubs, which I’m personally NOT a fan of, in this world. But you arrived and couldn’t talk...Did that come back when you got it off then?”
Absently, Stephen wonders if part of the not being able to speak was less to do with the armband in this realm than to do with the shock. He DOES believe, obviously, that it causes it, but in this case, the guy was probably stressed to all hell and back a couple times, injured, and traumatized and the loss of speech...pretty common all around. Actually, when it comes to that.
“This sounds unrelated but there’s a method to my madness, I swear. You didn’t have any kind of seizing, did you? Like...fits, I guess you’d say, when all this happened? That can be a weirdly persistent problem with extreme trauma, so if it’s a thing, it’s a thing you want to start treating as soon as you can. And if you couldn’t speak or do anything else...the body reacts. I can find you somebody if it is...and...actually do you have a therapist right now? I think professionally, that’s supposed to be a major concern I should have brought up right away, but the magic got me instead.”
He’s sheepishly admitting the last bit, well, as much as Stephen Strange does sheepish, which involves...not a lot of difference from normal. His fingertips flutter a little, but that’s about all. And the rest of that’s a bit, okay. He’s on board for it.
“So, they’re playing God? I’ve been accused of that one, but I don’t do it from other dimensions, and coming after them can kill you? Fun.” Stephen comments, taking a long sip of smoothie, and coming away with a little spot of whipped cream on his bottom lip. “Do you have any kind of resources against that, at home? General you.”
Balthier frowns. “I - I’ve had sort of - panic? It was back during those weeks that people were acting weird. I just couldn’t hide the - everything. And the back tension got worse.” He hesitates. “Therapist? You mean -” Basch and Noah talked about Aedan having one. “I wasn’t in the prison that long, so I didn’t really look into it - You’re talking sort of - talking therapy for being morose or something like that?”
Balthier takes a breath. “Here - let me show you.” He rolls up his sleeve. “So - to get this off, you either need to get the gem out, or get the armband out of contact with your arm. That’s what most of the - removal stuff is based around.” He braces himself a bit as he puts on the band and - Stephen can - probably tell that his mana is draining out right now, but - he can feel that sort of pressure on his temples but - it’s working. He tests and - right. Well - he can whisper. “And it’s working.”
“More like therapy because your sense of your world and what it was like probably shattered completely.” Stephen pauses. “It sounds like, just from what you’re not saying and the thing with one of the other dimension beings teaching your father things, that you’d kind of known he was...messed up, but it’s like having a rug ripped out from under you, or, hell, the floor, and finding a huge hole to fall down into a completely new...Do you have the Alice stories where you come from or did you see any of them here? There’s kind of a metaphor I could make there if you had. But the point is that sometimes, when things get that messed with, it’s not so much being morose as adjusting to the fact your world and you, are totally different. “
Stephen thinks about all those months that they’d pushed mental help at him, all the times he’d shoved it away in favor of chasing down another elusive surgeon who could fix his hands, or a treatment for them, and all the rest of that time he’d wasted that he could have helped himself in other ways, and he doesn’t really want it happening to other people, if he can help it. “They train people in different TYPES of it too. Human experience, that is. They can help you deal with it when you’re overwhelmed, that sort of thing. It might be worth thinking over. I should have taken the advice I got and done it. Might’ve helped. Then again, I was stubborn. NO one likes to think they need that kind of help. “
And then he’s leaning over to get a look at Balthier and how the armband works for him, tensing a little as the draining…”It’s like I can see the light going out of your eyes. Well, ‘see’. That must be painful.”
Balthier pries it off and makes a face. “That -” He clears his throat and snags his coffee to take a sip. Ow. He forgot that feeling of - clawing at his throat or something like that. Gravelly. “It’s not painful, but - unless you’ve got specific things you want to test, I’d sooner not wear it more than I have to. It’s more - I can tell that it’s active and there’s sort of mild aches, but -”
He shrugs. “It’s hard to describe.” His shoulders don’t really like the shrugging. “I’ve read the Alice in - Wonderland? I was trying to find out what a Disney movie was about. A lot of references didn’t - make sense, I guess is a way to put it. Wouldn’t a therapist find all of this crazy? Or not be able to do much due to having to censor - bits and pieces? From what Noah said - it’s - being at home wasn’t good. It’s hard to see it from outside, that way. So you’re talking about several years of issues and then it all exploded.”
“I can see why you wouldn’t want to, trust me.” Stephen thinks about Wong, for a moment, how he would probably react around something like that, and Balthier’s reaction is kind of tame compared to what he’d expect from his brilliant librarian, so there’s that to think about. “You’re allowed to say no to things. And therapists…” Stephen shrugs.
“There’re a few people around here, who already deal with the whole other worlds thing. And would you need to censor besides what you’re okay with? One of the big things people say when it comes to therapy is it’s giving you tools for how you approach hard things. I mean, I kind of doubt your Ellie’s telling the ine they see about every time one of their glorified clerics saw her magic start to manifest and locked her in a closet or hit her or anything.” They’re guesses on his part, admittedly, but you can see it, with some of these people, when someone in charge has done something like that. He definitely can in Baltheir though the details are elusive. And several years of issues and exploding…
“It sounds like that’s usually a thing. You don’t get how bad things are until it’s really bad.”
Balthier nods and slides the armband back over. “Yeah. But - I’m here now. It’s amazing to notice all the ways that you got - tramped down and quiet to try to be - good enough to not make things worse. And then you realize that all the hard work was them and not you.” He hesitates. “And I knew. I mean - I knew when I was twelve or so that my dad went made when I hit seventeen. I was . . . visions of a past life or something like that. It’s not easy to talk about.”
He leans on the table and snags another cake. “I could . . . ask, I guess. See if your therapist is seeing people. Find out how - how much tolerance they have. Noah’s just claiming to be from a war zone, and it’s working for him.” He looks at the armband. “So - how bad did it look?”
The armband sort of had a rippling thread of power along - it looks like the inside of his arm. Right now, there’s a quiet - band of nothingness on his arm. It looks like the lines of power may’ve been wandering along his nerves or his blood veins.
“Not mine actually.” Stephen has to confess on that point. “But there’re some here I can get you in touch with. I know who I’d ask if I needed to, so I can pass that along. And hey, warzone, incredibly messed up family...those start as things that can go in a lot of directions once you’re being treated by somebody you trust. ANd that’d be...it’d be hard. There are things I haven’t...I’ve got a couple of things where I know it’s hard to talk about, let alone figure out how to start. Our deep dark secrets, huh? “
As for the armband, it DID do a couple things. “It was a little bit...you know invisible thread? Where you feel it and you SORT of see it under some circumstances? There was a power flow e THAT once you got started. Surging up your arm sort of. Mostly in your nerves?” It makes sense in a central processing sort of way.
“Huh. That’s interesting. I - can’t really see it, but totally different magic schools.” Balthier smiles at him. “Thank you for - agreeing to look at it.”
He hesitates. “And the - advice on a therapist.” Should he - “And saying that Ellie might need some help. I just wish - she sounds like her experience with being a mage has been horrifying until she got here, and - uneasy here.”
“I wish I could do more but we’ll see what I CAN get started.” Stephen smiles too. “And Ellie’s...I do think, down the line, she’d do well to come to Greece, when I have more in the way of people. I’m not about to invite a teenager, a GIRL one, to my private mountain without at least another adult there, preferably a parent or another woman, but for now...I think it’s important that you let me know it’s not just me. And I wish there was more I could do to help you but I’ve always been kind of bad at the emotional parts. Still, I kind of want to try.”
“Maybe her family and her could visit? If there’s something public you can show them?” Balthier looks thoughtful. “Either way - want to have a cake and talk of something light? Since we - probably covered everything unless you’ve got questions later.”
“Worth a try.” Stephen agrees. “They could all probably benefit from going through the basics that aren’t quite magical instruction yet. I haven’t seen a group outside of medical students who are that perpetually stressed out. But in the meantime, definitely. Light is good. I DO have kind of a funny shift story, actually.”
Balthier grins at him and leans on the table. “Tell me more? Do you want a macaron if they’ve got them? Those lavender things?”