Who: Christine Palmer and Stephen Strange When: Late Sunday Night/Early Monday Morning Where: Their apartment What: Powers come knocking! Warnings: Stephen Strange, himself, is a warning.
They had started as light whispers. The kind that make you turn your head, wondering if someone was talking to you in passing. Tones and subject matters changed, laughter came flooding in and out, and chatter from this way and that was almost deafening.
That had just been during her first two hours of work Saturday morning.
It fell quiet save for a low mumble that lingered. Popping hear ears and yawning did nothing to clear the uncomfortable pressure. Customers talking with her sounded slightly muffled. Nothing was coming across as clear. It was...unsettling. Sudden hearing loss wasn't normal. It wasn't completely out of the question, either, but she would have seen the signs. There was no doubt.
The voices had come thundering into her head. Loud and screaming. An argument over overpriced tickets. Laughter. A very private conversation. Snoring. A stream of questions. Yelling. A baby crying. Were Emily and Stephen fighting over the television? Were their neighbors?
With the living room quiet and free of her fellow roommates, Christine did her best not to pound on Stephen's door. It was overwhelming, though. The chatter, the constant buzzing of voices coming this way and that. "Stephen...Stephen Strange, if this is some kind of magic thing gone wrong...Stephen!"