Dr Strange is Master of Mystic and Martial Arts (icanlose) wrote in angellogs, @ 2017-09-07 21:27:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, balthier, basch fon ronsenberg, stephen strange |
Who: Balthier, Dr. Strange, Basch
When: Current, the day of Stephen's post last week
Where: Strange’s School of Magic
What: Balthier and Basch bring over some food, and Stephen Strange clearly isn’t used to asking for help. Over food, the talk slides between healthcare, house hunting, and magical studies.
Rating/Warnings: Mentions of pain management / mild discussion of medical ethics concerns
Status: Complete
Balthier digs out his phone to message Dr. Strange. “Are you up for a phone call? I wanted to check in on what you might like, since it’s not a problem to bring things over.” He’s not sure if the guy’s still in pain, but it can’t hurt to check in, right?
“Hey.” Stephen’s voice is a little strained, but it’s the sort of strain that comes from someone long accustomed to handling what they’re going through by trying to push through, and less gasping for breath in between bouts of pain, so that’s...something, anyway. “I can do the phone, definitely. Hands free’s a thing.” he adds. “And please, anything is fine. It’s actually nice to have someone coming around so don’t worry about much else.”
“Would two people be okay? I could ask Basch if he’d like to come along. He’s a good friend of mine, and familiar with pain,” Balthier asks. “I could call up when we’re close, so you have fair warning?” He was thinking of calling about food preferences, but the - strain of pain and the tiredness sounded like Stephen might be happier just to have someone around to distract him and someone to smooth the edges of the pain with some help.
It’s - possible too that he hates asking for help, so those kind of talks would not help at all for making his life easier.
“That would be fine.” Stephen says, thinking one person isn’t that much more, really, and he won’t have to go into explanations so there’s a relief. There’s a point where you have to save your breath to do other things than explain to people. And he’s very much not good at asking for help, to this day, no.
“Great,” Balthier says back, trying to sound as confident as he can. “I’ll try to do this right.” He looks over at Basch. “He okayed it. It sounds like he’s - not entirely comfortable talking about what he needs or not really - up for the exertion? I think it’d be simpler to go there with a meal and make a list that he could go yes or no at, versus trying to get him to say what he needs.” They’d discussed a few ideas, before Balthier tried contacting Stephen.
Mostly - things that wouldn’t involve a lot of detailed precision with fingers or prep time. Soup, perhaps, bread rolls, dumplings maybe. Pressed sandwiches? Stirfry? Tea things like pre-made sandwiches and a cake would be possible.
“That makes sense.” Basch agrees. “Probably he doesn’t care much at this point, honestly, but no reason we can’t make it easy to navigate, right?” He glances at his own hands and he’s glad, honestly, that they’re not as bad as they were.
“Yeah.” Balthier eyes their list. “I’m a little - He’s kind of brisk and - I don’t think he likes admitting he cares about specific people. Perhaps a vulnerability thing. I don’t want -” He trails off. “Any votes on the options? Or shall we roll a dice and see what it picks? I don’t want him to feel sore, and for me to feel like my father pointing out that I know it’s a tender spot and I know how much and where sort of - things.”
“Unless that’s new.” Basch points out. “The idea it’s all right. And, well, doctor, right? Probably a bit detached. Some of the healers were. Supposedly it’s meant to be easier to work that way, but it never did when I was fighting with any of the men by my side. “ He shrugs. “Still, easy to fall into. And I think, let’s see, he hasn’t mentioned anything specific and CAN use magic to manipulate things if he needs?” He can work with that.
“He said that it was bad enough that concentration was a problem. So - limited use, I’m guessing.” Balthier looks at the list. “He mentioned wanting music, or - distractions? We could bring some music.” He hesitates. “I’m leaning toward cake, and a little pile of various perogies. They’d be reheatable, and you could, in a pinch, just put them in a mug and tip it toward you kind of eating. Or put them in broth or sour cream saucing. How does that sound? And we can get going?”
“That sounds like it’d work” Basch nods. “Good idea, worse coming to worse. And music? I can handle grabbing something that might work. Give me a moment and a flash drive?” He suggests, moving to a drawer to look for some of the blank ones they’ve got here, coming up with one shaped like a penguin. “This should do it.”
“Sure. I’ll call in an order to the shop.” Balthier digs out the number. “I like the drives. Was that something you picked out?”
It’s under a half hour that Balthier’s giving Stephen a call. “We’re ready. Shall I punch the coordinates in?”
“There’re a couple options.” Basch snickers, opening the drawer to show off a varied collection of items there, most involving bright colors or animals in some form or other. “The world seems to want to make things small and cute. It’s certainly nothing I mind, so…” He grins.
“Please do.” Stephen’s saying on the other end, and moving around to get tea started. It’s a bit more difficult to rely fully on magic, but he’s seen it done, too, and gotten over his other mental blocks to do with it, so there’s that. When they arrive, he’s still wearing the slings he’d had to employ, mostly because otherwise, he’s going to end up doing too much out of instinct, and offers them both a little half smile that’s more polite than anything. “Sorry I’m not better company.” he tells them and studies Basch. “Did I know you two were twins? I feel like I should have known that.”
“Did Noah not mention it?” Balthier asks. He shows the bag he’s carrying, with a very - uh - bright pink and green plaid towel tucked over the takeout bags to keep them warm. “Basch brought some music, and I brought some food.” He’s wearing his usual vest, but the shirt’s a lighter one, and he’s looking less stressed than usual. The - slings are noticed. No wonder Stephen was complaining about being pained and bored without a way to work on it. “And don’t worry about being a perfect host.”
“I didn’t catch the twins part.” Stephen says. “Or it slipped my mind. And that’s amazing, thanks.” He does sound like he thinks that too. There was a time when he was unwilling to accept anyone’s help or admit he’s not able to do something, but...there’s a value, he’s found, in being able to accept help from people, among other things.
“I DID get some tea on and I have plenty of...whatever you can think of, actually.” Stephen pauses. “Well, it might not come out exactly the same if it’s native, but if I can manage Asgardian ale…I probably can manage anything else.”
Balthier grins. “So I could picture things you’d have with tea in - I don’t know - Archades, and you could summon it? How - magic intensive is it? Is the food - actually food or more magical energy? We brought dumplings, and some cake.” He got a couple of flavors. They had a mushroom and potato one, with a tiny bit of meat in it. His favorite was the mild white cheese ones. The cabbage and caraway ones, which were pink from beets were surprisingly sweet and good.
“Along those lines.” Stephen nods. “And it functions as food. It’s an odd sort of an explanation, which is pretty boring, I expect, but on the brightside, it IS manageable to do.” Which is a bit more than he can say for his hands at the moment, but. “This is great, seriously.”
“We have a few uh,,playlists, too.” Basch nods toward the flash drive. “I copied over a few that seemed reasonable. Is it offensive to include..ah..Enya? I feel like that’s stereotypical but..”
Stephen snorts. “As long as it’s not the entire thing.”
Balthier slides a list over. “Options we thought up if we wanted to do this again. The bringing food, not bringing us, that is.” He waves at the bag. “Show me how you’d want me to set things up? Or shall I dig around a bit and lay the food out?”
“I’ve got a spot off through here.” Stephen eyedarts. “The library used to be the spot, but there’s been some remodeling.” He’s set up a smaller room with a few tables, in case people do end up coming to stay, or for lessons or anything else. “I’ve been getting prepared.”
:That sounds good.” Balthier looks around. “I had some things to discuss, but I wasn’t sure what you were feeling up to. Lead on?”
“I can do that.” Stephen nods. “My mind is perfectly fine. “ He pauses, considering the statement. “CONSIDERING all of this, it’s fine, at least. I probably have colleagues who’d lock me somewhere to recover if they heard half of this place, but I’m fine for that.” He’s distracted, sure, but not as much as he could be, and he’s not doing anything overly complex that requires the focus,so...there’s that.
Balthier laughs. “At least, it’ll occupy you, perhaps. I’ve been house hunting. I know - I bet everywhere is different, but - it might be entertaining.” It’s lovely out here. He can smell the sea, and while it’s not the turbulent cold seas that he remembers at the Ridorana Cataract (or the Mist all around Pharos) - it’s still familiar. “The list was mostly - ideas for things that might not need detailed handwork to eat, and might be reheatable or keep a while. Sort of a - come on over and bring this sort of option. There was this article about - how’d they put it, Basch? The idea that having to make decisions when you felt awful was a sort of emotional labor, and trying to soften that part was a good thing?”
“Ah that.” Stephen makes a little face, remembering the process of getting himself here and permits and…”Are they being pains with the legal zoning stuff yet? Because that’s probably coming and I can do a walkthrough if it’s bad.”
“They’re going to be that bad? Everywhere?” Basch asks, raising an eyebrow. “That’s...concerning.” to say the least. “Surely it can’t be that bad. I mean, everyone’s done it? And really, you don’t have to change the subject.” he’s peering at the doctor now. “Someone told you, what, to focus on other people so you just...tuned out the rest? Not healthy.”
Seriously.
“I...it SOMEWHAT is.” Stephen admits. “The emotional labor bits. Oddly, I thought I’d turned that off somewhere in my residency, but apparently…” He would shrug, but he blinks instead. “Thank you. I...could come up with that. This looks amazing.”
Balthier lays out a couple of mugs, some shallow bowls, the packages of perogie, some tiny containers (fried onions, sour cream,) and a bigger thermos. “Broth. Which could turn this into - kind of something you could just sip out of a mug. I would’ve brought plates, but I guessed you might have some, and apparently some got taken out of the cabinet. Research on plate patterns that Noah likes? Or shenanigans. I didn’t ask. I think Sebastian might be cooking dinner for them at the gatehouse tonight.”
He grins. “I’m glad it is amazing, you know? It didn’t take that long, and it was fun to plan.” The cake is a pretty marzipan covered one, precut in wedges, and a chocolate one with a hard chocolate covering over it. “Cake. Wasn’t sure if you liked chocolate, and I know I do, so - selfishness.” They did have napkins for cake eating if for some reason Stephen was plateless.
“Research on...okay that’s weirdly specific and sort of cute coupley.” Stephen takes a second to think about Christine, not that he’s thought about her much since all of this went down. “Probably proof that I’m REALLY not cut out for that kind of thing. I mean, the fact people do that’s kind of…” It’s INTERESTING, definitely, but he’d thought it was all kind of a TV thing.
“I guess you probably wouldn’t...uh...there’re registries now. For things people might bring for wedding presents.” He shrugs. “Granted, I’m pretty sure that’s SORT of covered.”
“Sebastian’s sentimental.” Basch looks amused. “It’s one of those things that just sort of...happens around the man? And Noah’s a besotted lover so you can imagine.” Not that he is MUCH better, but…
“I can get plates at least.” Stephen says, and he’s walking closer to a cabinet, then very very deliberately reaching out with his magic and getting that open and a stack of plates are floating to the counter. It’s not the IDEAL way to do it, and his fingers are twitching a little, in what might be a pattern, even if they aren’t really making the motions right now, which does hurt, but he saves the wince until everything’s down. “Does that work?”
“Perfect.” Balthier lays out the options. “Want me to fill things up? I wanted to try the cheese perogies with the broth in a mug.”
“That’d be a huge help.” Stephen looks pretty relieved there. “Thanks. Really.”
“Potato, cheese, meat, cabbage.” Balthier indicates. “Fried onions and sour cream. Have a seat and tell me what looks good?”
“You think of everything. I’m kind of impressed.” Stephen IS, too. Down to the little details is one of those things that, when it comes to food, he’s never really paid much attention to. Then again, it’s not as if he actually does that much cooking, magical or otherwise. At one point, he could fake survival skills in a kitchen, but…
“Usually I sort of flounder around hospital cafeterias.” he explains. “See if the salad bar looks safe that day. Which depends on where you happen to have been summoned, actually.” He can think of more than a few potential pratfalls along the way.
“You’d think they’d have mountains of rules about food safety,” Balthier says, making a mug of perogies and broth. “I wasn’t much of a cook myself. More of a - we’d all go down to restaurants to get some privacy, or cook over little braziers at the guard headquarters. But I’ve been learning.”
“Oh it’s probably SAFE.” Basch chimes in, “More like it’s meant to be disgusting? Granted, this is all things I’ve heard from Aedan, who doesn’t have the best track record, but…” He shakes his head.
“Trust me.” Stephen tells them both. “If you ever end up needing to stay over, the jello’s probably the safe bet. It’s also got a lot of dubious stuff going on, composition wise, but…”
Balthier slides the mug over to Stephen and makes a plate of two small bits of cake before making up his own. “I suspect I’d - uh - not expect much. I was pretty glad they got a healer for me, when I got here, or I would’ve ended up in a hospital. Considering how lost I felt, it would’ve been miserable.” He frowns a little. “I wonder if there could be options for - uh - people like us friendly medical care. I keep fearing repercussions if I go to therapy and say the wrong things.”
“Culture shock.” Stephen nods. “I get that.” Not in the same way, but coming to Kamar-Taj was like that for him right away, even if he DID get the wifi password the night he got there. “Thanks. And you know, a few people here have gone and talked about the things they brought with them. It’s PROBABLY possible that it would work. The rate they’re going, it’s going to have to become a new specialty isn’t it?”
“Isn’t - well - for people not from ‘now’ isn’t part of it akin to working with foreign cultures? You don’t assume they understand medical confidentiality, and bureaucracy. I suppose that could actually be a job, in a way. Hire someone and they’ll sit with you through things. I was talking about getting a basic nursing degree just so - there’d be someone who knew how you were supposed to do first aid. Convalescence care. However you call it here?” Balthier’s sipping his soup now and touches Basch’s arm lightly. Hey.
“You’d think they’d have it going. There’s a protocol in place here now, with a lot of the local places if someone’s brought in. Covers treatment and they don’t ask a lot of questions if someone’s obviously new and confused. I think it’s something like…” Stephen frowns a second. “ARK or something. Not sure if it’s an abbreviation or a reference. And yeah? I feel sort of bad for all the nurses I’ve worked with now.” He’ll admit to that. “Doctors can be complete assholes, trust me. But if you can handle that...there DOES seem to be a need.”
“Well, our healers are a little less…” Basch tries to come up with a term that really describes the situation and how it looks. “A little less ah...tolerant? They sort of do their thing around you.”
“You never tell one no, at least that’s what you got told a ton in Archades.” Balthier makes a face. “I was prone to chills in the lungs in winter, so I tended to be a sullen kid at times.” He’s eying the cake. “Spoon? Fork? It’s technically pickupable. One reason for the firm coatings on them. I wasn’t sure what’d work, and honestly, when you’re settled in with tea, it’s not really something you nitpick about.”
“That’s true.” Stephen agrees. “You really aren’t thinking about that are you? It looks really great, actually too. I think the spoon might be an easier way to go. And that? Would never pass here. Not that I usually asked patients things while I was working but they WERE kind of unconscious, and had signed paperwork, so..”
“Which is definitely different. And you - they’d know what you were doing.” Balthier smiles at him and pats the bag until he produces spoons. “Want to hear about the other topic at hand? Or just hear us chat?”
“Hit me up.” Stephen leans forward a little. “I’m kind of curious by now.”
“So, the new house. I could - build a magical working table. Would you be interested in checking it out?” Balthier waves his hand. “Ellie said she might be interested. It might be - interesting, and it might be peaceful. Settle in with a book, nag me to take breaks, and watch weird magic?”
“I think that’d be interesting.” Stephen isn’t exactly sure what it’ll consist of, but he’s always willing to expand his knowledge base. “I admit I’m curious how it all would work in practice. And I DO want to work on the princess a little..or actually, technically, the prince is the one who’d have to agree with having her come here, so it’d be a low key sort of way to figure out how I could present that, seeing her in that sort of a setting.”
“But it can’t hurt. Regulus might come - He’s friends with Noah, and he’s - leery of magic, but trying to become - more comfortable with himself? From what Noah said.” Balthier leans on the table. “I’m worried about the princess. I think she’s - desperate to be part of something, and that makes her agree to things she might not. It’s dangerous, being that age, with that inclination.”
“He’s with the wizards from the world where that’s a big thing, isn’t it? “ Stephen figures referencing Harry Potter, as a thing, isn’t going to get any of them very far. “From books?” he tacks on, just to clarify. “Well there are movies too, but the last one was way longer before anyone ended up here. Hogwarts? “ he figures that’ll jog memories too. It’s not like you hear Hogwarts as a name and forget about it, especially if it’s not familiar territory.
“And that’s...yeah, it’s kind of rough I bet. But it sounds like you’re making a good attempt.” Stephen frowns. “I really don’t trust the fact she’s hanging around with Lucifer. Literal personification of evil in a major religion. Fallen angel sort of thing.”
“Hogwarts, yeah. I think he had some rough things happen to him. I haven’t read the series. And I can’t see her father’s worries about magic helping her talk about concerns about Lucifer. The - Biblical stuff doesn’t entirely - it’s no mythos I’m familiar with.” Balthier shakes his head. “Want to see the houses? To change the subject to something less grim?