WHO: Stephen Strange and Vax'ildan WHAT: The two catch up while indulging in boozy hot chocolate and churros. WHEN: Evening of February 5 WARNINGS: None really, though there are continued CRC1 spoilers if you're worried about that STATUS: Complete
The hot chocolate bar was very cozy, a lot of dark wood interiors with plenty of nooks and crannies surrounded by bookshelves and wrought-iron lamps swinging from exposed-beam ceilings - Stephen really liked the ambiance, he liked the baked goods, and he liked the hot chocolate selection was intense. And for an intense kind of person, well, it was appreciated.
He wanted something like the Aztec hot chocolate, which came in a teeny tiny teacup but packed a hell of a face punch, thanks to the pure viscosity of the melted cocoa. Besides, it was that time of year where, after stepping in your sixth or so puddle of slush, you craved something to warm you up and didnât want it to be powder that got in your nose as a result of opening the packet and shoving the contents plus a mug into a microwave.
The good stuff. Give it to him.
Plus Stephen knew what it was like to be hit with a deluge of unpleasant updates from your world - he hadnât gotten that, but felt the pain and anguish of a broken âhimâ on another timeline entirely, on another collision course. Either way it was hard and whatever he could do to help, he would try. Maybe it wasnât much. But buying someone a cup of whatever boozy hot cocoa he wanted seemed to be a decent gesture and something he would certainly do for most anyone, let alone a friend - let alone someone who he may be more intricately tied with in the future, who could say.
He sat in a booth, unraveling the scarf he had around his neck - which was actually Cloak, bright red and in a changed form for the time being. âSo how has everything been?â he asked. âAsking âhow are you feelingâ sounds more therapist than I mean to sound, but - the question remains.â
Vax was, for all intents and purposes, feeling a bit more himself, which was why he had been able to agree to meeting up with Stephen. It was, as he and many others had already suggested, a process. There was less a need to go back to being who he was prior to this final update--because he did, truly, believe that this would be the last of the memories he would receive from Exandria, which provided its own sense of strange closure--and more a desire to acclimate, to figure out who he was now that he was on this other side. That was going to take some time.
Luckily, Vax had friends and family to help with that. And, with some luck, good drink to pair with it.
Making himself comfortable, something that included adjusting the sleeves of his green sweater, Vax managed a lop-sided smile at the question. "Oh, you know. Same old, same old." It was a joke of a response, largely because that was his default when it came to discussing himself and his struggles. He could be honest as well, though, and that was why he followed up with, "Things are--better, for the most part. For me, at least. It kind of depends on the day, but isn't that how most things go?â
At least, Vax assumed that's how most things went. His life had been a series of ups and downs for as long as he could remember. "I've been trying to get out and do stuff more, though, so this is a good start."
âThat does tend to be how things go,â Stephen agreed. âYou sort of realize that there will be days that feel worse than others - and maybe youâll slip and withdraw a little or make mistakes, but thatâs okay. It doesnât mean you ultimately canât keep moving forward.â A process indeed - and Vallo gave them plenty of those processes to figure out how to work through; sometimes when it came to a memory update it was merely a dream that summed up weeks or years in the span of a few hours. Other times it was just falling and falling into a ravine - unconsciousness, something you couldnât simply crawl out of.
Not without a lot of help, or extending a hand to someone else. A few people.
He plucked a menu from the holder at the side of the table, passing one over to Vax while managing to keep his hand steady - the colder it got, the worse those shakes got. Stephen could feel the warmth of Eldritch magic thrill through him, and the heat kept him steady, but managing it constantly was something of a battle. He made it work though, he always did. There was no choice. âFocusing on what you can actually control helps too. Which, here?â he smirked a bit. âNot always easy. But you probably have some goals or projects on the horizon?â Getting out and doing stuff was admirable. Stephen knew how easy it was to hunker down and hermit.
Vax hummed thoughtfully, eyes scanning the menu in front of him as he considered both the options and the question. The future was wide and expansive before him, something that he had only recently started to get used to. "It's funny," he said mildly, "but so much of my life back home was focused on the next immediate goal. For years that was simply keeping my sister safe and trying to put together enough coin to keep us fed or with a roof over our head for a night, but then it turned into helping a friend liberate his home or taking down dragons or taking down a fucking god." It could have sounded like bragging as he laid out his and his friends' accomplishments, but somewhere between the light tone and the half smile that he offered, Vax managed to miss that mark. It was just a list.
"So now," he continued, flipping the menu around and letting his eyes glide over the words, "it's hard to wrap my head around the option of long term goals. I have them, with my career and with Shaun, but I spent nearly twenty-nine years just fumbling around. It's funny now to think about things like saving for a mortgage."
Vax looked up at that, his half smile growing a bit wider. "Especially since we didn't really have those back home."
Stephen chuckled a little, a spark of mirth in powder blue eyes. âAh, yes, a mortgage - a thing you had no idea you never wanted,â he quipped. âIt kind of pales in comparison to taking down a god, Iâd say.â Just wasnât as exciting, really - but also yet terrifying in a whole different kind of way. On some days, he really yearned for the mundanity of that sort of thing. It meant stability, building a life, making his own choices - sometimes those things didnât feel real, especially when the Monster of the Month came tumbling along, crashing through the forest on a path to make their lives Heck for forty-eight hours or so.
Deciding he did want that punch in the face, the Aztec hot chocolate it was. Maybe a little cayenne pepper sprinkled in too - also the golden ambrosia known as tequila, which was going to get him flushed and saying some incoherent shit, but he didnât even care. Theyâd be sure to eat while drinking - really go for the carbs that these baked goods had to offer. âI sort of thought I gave up normal wants and desires, when I turned to magic,â he admitted. âEverything about protecting the fabric of reality fell on my shoulders and I wasnât ready for any of it - I was just trying to cure my hands. Didnât even end up doing that either. Here, itâs nice to know I can worry about a mortgage too. Or worrying about how to ask your girlfriend if she wants to marry you and just - not accomplishing it.â
Details.
Vax found his attentions on the menu torn between something spiked with some sort of peppermint liquor and another with peanut butter whiskey, which he didn't even know existed. His horizons were being expanded beyond ale and whatever bottle of wine was open to be shared within the Xhorhaus and that was a very good thing.
His gaze popped up over the edge of the menu to peer over at Stephen, one eyebrow lifting. It wasn't that he didn't find interest in something like protecting the fabric of reality, but Vax had to admit that it probably said something about his life that it was the proposal that truly sparked his intrigue. Then again, he had always been something of a hopeless romantic, his entire history spanning from his teenage years being evidence of that.
"Oh?" Vax set the menu down, attention caught. He smiled, head listing to the side in consideration. "I have some follow up questions about the last one."
Peanut butter whiskey was also pinging Stephen, in kind of a âis this horrifying? Should I find out?â way. But he decided heâd get that one second, and go with the tequila-laden beverage first. Orders placed, he also asked for a basket of churros (with a couple of different fillings - one with chocolate, another with caramel and Hoggothâs balls that was his favorite) because if they were going to sugar themselves up, it seemed wise to do that using pastry fried in hot oil.
âI have some follow-up questions too,â he huffed a laugh. âOr, uh - well, a lot of follow-up reasons why I just havenât done it yet, but none of them seem like good enough reasons. Finding the perfect moment is difficult, you know?â
Maybe he just had to realize that there was no such thing. And that, ultimately, any moment would be perfect because they loved each other and it was the two of them fighting tooth and nail against what was clearly laid out on the path before them in their own timeline.
A collision. They were supposed to be electrons who repelled each other without ever touching - that was what their respective magics meant. But it wasnât going to work out that way. It couldnât.
Orders taken, Vax allowed himself to lean back in the booth and concentrate fully on the conversation. He smiled, admitting, "I imagine that's the case, especially with something as important a question as that. I've always been a bit--" He paused, considering before going with the obvious, expressing some impressive, yet somehow still understated, self-awareness. "Impulsive, for better or worse, if you'll mind the pun."
His feelings for Keyleth, after all, only came to light due to a bout of impulsiveness born of incredibly blood loss--also given due to being impulsive--and yearning. His being bound to a goddess was much the same, as were far too many too close dances with death. Though Vax only ever acted rashly out of a desire to help and protect his loved ones, he had to admit that he was getting better about it--to his own relief and, he assumed, those same loved ones.
"I can understand wanting the perfect moment, though," Vax went on. Without realizing that his own thoughts were mirroring Stephen's, he added, "I suppose the question is whether a moment is perfect because you make it so ahead of time or if it's perfect because it just is."
âThatâs true,â Stephen admitted. âYouâd think Iâd be more impulsive about it, considering how I sort of give into that on the regular. We have that in common, I think.â It was true - Stephen could be very impulsive. And reckless. And he went too far on occasion - then again, so did Wanda. That was maybe why they meshed so well, or eventually would come to clash - like two lightning bolts, or fire spiked with alcohol, just so much fury. They were both filled with it.
Maybe with their own brands of darkness as well - Stephen could feel it in him, buried deeply; it was an especially keen sort of sensation, given everything he had dealt with when it came to Strange Supreme. So he knew he had it in him. They all did.
âJust is seems like a good route to take - we can make our own perfect moments,â he chuckled. âAnd of course settling down here is always a risk - but itâs a risk worth taking. I want the future that we were shown.â He imagined that Vax wanted it as well.
Vax could absolutely relate on that account. Though they had done their best to keep some of the details at an arm's length, he thought a great deal about Via and just how much he couldn't wait to have her back in their lives. She represented a hopeful future that Vax had never let himself dwell on for longer than a few moments for the vast majority of his life and he didn't want to give that up for anything.
"Now that I can definitely get," Vax confirmed, expression going a bit wistful. He hesitated, his mind returning to Exandria and lingering on the many, many different paths his life could have taken in comparison to the road it did travel. "Shaun and I weren't together back home. Could have been, I think, had I made different decisions, but I didn't, so--Vallo is what we have." Not that he regretted the life he had created back home. Though not together, he and Gilmore had a very close and loving friendship. He had been building towards a comfortable and good future with Keyleth. He would always have his sister. It was a good life and he had been happy while he lived it. (And he then immediately pushed that thought aside, at least for now; his dwelling on his life and its end came and went and now wasn't the time, he told himself.)
Just as true was that he had an incredibly good, incredibly happy life in Vallo and just as satisfying a future to look forward to. Vax didn't want to give that up, either--and desperately hoped that Vallo wouldn't make him.
"So, yeah," Vax continued, shrugging a shoulder. "I get that risk. It's one of the hardest parts of being here. But, I think it also makes me appreciate what I've got all the more, if that makes sense."
All of them, they were here - caught in Valloâs web and there were plenty of terrible things but there was also so much good and, no, Stephen didnât want to let it go. Heâd hold on with these broken hands until the very last possible second. âIt does,â he tilted his head a bit, thoughtfully, as sweet and delicious churros were dropped off - sticks of dough covered in cinnamon sugar. Letâs do this thing.
He selected one and didnât give a shit that these calories were emptier than the heart of a banker, as the saying went - bad churros made you feel like you were walking underwater, good made ones you feel like you were walking on sunshine (these were good, for the record). And he wondered if Vax had ever tried a churro before. Did they have them in Exandria? Well, here was an experience, so, live it up.
âI always try to focus on appreciating what we have here,â he added before taking a bite - crunch. âAnd appreciate the pep talk too, by the way. Wanda and I arenât together back home either - and Iâm not sure if we ever could be.â Not with the way their destinies were going to most likely crash together - not with Stephen still hung up on Christine, most likely.
Because he thought heâd moved on, however, his other self becoming so unhinged over her death was a point that said otherwise. âBut once I finally do this engagement thing, you and Shaun will have to come over to celebrate with us. Maybe with paella too.â If possible.
Vax plucked one of the churros from the basket, examining it curiously as he listened to Stephen before taking a bit and--holy shit. He'd had his fair share of pastries and desserts since his arrival in Vallo, largely due to Jester's influence or the near constant rotating supply of donuts and cakes in the shared kitchen of the Xhorhaus, but this was next level.
"I'm sure we can make that work." Vax didn't always like to speak for Gilmore, especially when it came to his schedule as his was a particularly busy one, given his responsibilities with the shop, but he figured that this was as safe a time as ever to do so. He also--and perhaps it was silly given the length of their relationship--loved whenever he was able to use we to refer to the two of them. Vax was, and forever would be, a hopeless romantic. "Besides, I'm a bit supporter of celebrating whenever the chance is given."
Especially now, he thought, when he knew just how short a life, even one well lived, could be. Vax mentally pushed that notion away once more; now was not the time to dwell--not when he had cinnamon desserts and hot chocolate to enjoy.
The churros were well-received, then. Good. That made Stephen feel all warm and fuzzy inside (in addition to the way he felt the cholesterol as soon as he took another bite). With the hot chocolate here too, they were now all set to enjoy this veritable sugar fest and RSVP âyesâ to their invitations to Diabetes Con 2022.
âPerfect. Itâs been kind of empty in the Sanctum too lately, so weâll appreciate getting a chance to host,â he grinned, picking up his cup of hot chocolate to take a sip - not only did the richness of the chocolate clock him in the jaw but so did the cinnamon and the spice of tequila; he couldnât wait to start babbling about magic and tiiiiiime, or something else completely ridiculous but that was fine. Theyâd get home safely.
Unless he drunkenly portaled them to the top of a Wal-Mart, but you only lived once. That sort of thing could be fun too.