i_havedreams Back-dated: During the firefight.... [Sam and Dr Strange]
Backtracking down what Sam thought were the same streets he'd just traveled wasn't helping. Especially since the streets kept shifting, as if mocking him, taunting him with the fact that he'd managed to lose his brother so easily. It had taken only a moment to look over and realize Dean wasn't there any more. Gun at the small of his back, and God [and Dean] only knew how many more in the backpack he carried, he still didn't feel a bit safe walking down the streets, trying to avoid any passageway that sounded as though the gunfire was getting louder.
There were a lot of bodies. It didn't bother Sam that much. He'd seen victims of supernatural attacks come off looking a lot worse that a gunshot wound to the face could do. The only one that got to him was the blonde woman lying crumpled at the entrance to an alley. She probably didn't look at all like Jessica, but Sam saw her face imprinted on the dead woman's anyway. He hurried off in the other direction, completely unsure of where he was going, only knowing he had to find his brother.
He pused at a movement nearby. Person? Animal? Instinctively his hand went for the small of his back and he waited to see who or what it was.
From: [info]i_estrange Date: 12/18/2005 17:50:09
As much as Strange would have liked to limit his wanderings to his astral form, even he didn't have the capacity to keep his physical stamina going without nourishment. Which was why he'd been out in the streets. Mind you, of course, had he known there was going to be a sudden riot of gunfire and violence, he would have chosen to stay in for dinner. And help via other means. Magical if possible. Unfortunately precognitive abilities were not his speciality, and so he was out at the time of the chaos and pandemonium.
He'd managed to help a few strangers. Hurriedly rushing them into doorways and storefronts in the hopes of preventing anymore casualties. He even put up a few mystical barriers around a few of the homes where the cries of frightened little children could be heard.
And that was how he found himself out on the street, scrambling over fallen bodies, turning a corner and pausing when he saw the figure of a man who was reaching towards his back. That was like the international cry of I have a weapon and I'm not afraid to protect myself!, and Strange was quick to react. He held out his hand towards the man, the pendant-esque item on his chest glowing a bright gold hue. The transparent image of a silvery colored ring with random Asian lettering appeared in front of his palm.
"I mean you no harm! I'm just here to help people..."
Sam's hand paused, wrapped firmly around the gun. He turned, catching sight of the man standing there. His eyes fell first on the bright glowing... talisman around his neck. Still obviously wary, Sam replied, "Who are you?"
From: [info]i_estrange Date: 12/18/2005 19:57:55
Strange moved his arm out to the side so that he would appear less-threatening. This guy didn't look as though he had anything to do with the gunfire. He was probably just scared and confused like a lot of the other people Strange had run into during the madness that ensued.
The man had offered his name with no hesitation. Sam returned the favor. "Sam Winchester. You're a doctor?" His head tilted and his hand loosed around the gun.
From: [info]i_estrange Date: 12/18/2005 21:05:05
"I wish I could say it's a pleasure, Mr. Winchester, but considering the circumstances we've met in I'm not sure that it is."
The silver apparition he'd created around his hand dissipated from view, and slowly the Eye talisman that rested in a hovering position above his chest began to calm its bubbly glow. Strange reached in front of himself and adjusted the slightly frazzled array of his vest, caused from his earlier frantic assistance to the few random pedestrians he came across.
"Yes. Well, formerly a surgeon. Since then retired and moved on to other things."
Sam's hand was tight around the gun again at the shifting glowing lights - even if they were calming down now. "Good poijnt. And these other things, what, witchcraft? Sorcery? How the hell are you glowing?" The 'doctor' wasn't being at all threatening, but Sam wasn't taking any chances in this City. Especially not till he found Dean.
From: [info]i_estrange Date: 12/19/2005 09:08:01
"Right, exactly. Eww, not witchcraft. Please. Do I look like I have a cauldron and a broom? Sorcery. Mystical arts to be more precise."
Strange dropped his arms to the side, slipping to hide beneath the long dark red cloak that hung over his shoulders.
"It's not going to hurt you. It's something of a defense mechanism. It reacts to my own presence and sometimes others, situation dependent. But it won't do anything to you."
Sam eased off on the gun again. So far he had no reason to distrust the stranger. Even though... he was. Odd. Wearing a cloak. Talking about beinga sorecrer with disdain for witchcraft. "Mystical arts. So how does it work?" Both hands at his sides now, a sort of truce. He didn't much care to get into any fights here.
From: [info]i_estrange Date: 12/19/2005 15:38:06
Not disdain for witchcraft, per se. Just the name 'witchcraft' in general. It sounded so hocus pocus and unbelievable and reminded him of the Wicked Witch of the West and all of those horrible stereotypes. Besides, witches were women. And he definitely was not.
"How does it work?" Strange repeated, quirking a brow into his forehead. Not exactly the conversation he was expecting over a street of cadavers. "It's a little bit complicated in some respects .. But then there's your basic incantations, spells, projections, mystical items..."
"Can you find people?" Sam interrupted. He wasn't normally so... well rude, but hey, if this guy could help in any way, Sam needed to know. Now. "Or maybe help you find your way around in this City? Anything like that?"
From: [info]i_estrange Date: 12/19/2005 17:12:59
"Yes," Strange replied without hesitation. "If I know who I'm looking for or their general location."
In his astral form he could cover the distance over the City and back in a matter of minutes. There were locating spells as well, but sometimes they required outside details or remnants relating to the person or object misplaced.
Sam nodded slowly. "Yeah. My brother. We got sepearated. And then the streets changed." Sam's hands clenched into fists. "I've been looking for him now for hours, and I'm not even sure where I am anymore, much less him." His head jerked left at the too-close sound of a volley of bullets and he ducked backward into the alley behind him that had previously been a two-way street. "And what the hell is going on here?"
From: [info]i_estrange Date: 12/20/2005 09:50:59
At the sound of the bullets, Strange slipped into the momentary safety of that alley's cover as well. He pulled his cloak over his chest, hiding that glowing amulet from view in the even that someone passed nearby them.
"I'm not exactly sure. This place has a very peculiar mystical heart. It's strong but disjointed. And the changing makes it difficult to figure it out."
He peeked out around the corner to see if anyone was coming.
"I can help you find your brother, but this is not a safe place to start looking."
Sam gave Dr. Strange another measuring look and nodded. "I'd really appreciate your help. And I completely agree. If you know someplcae safer you name it. The faster I find him, the less chance he'll be hurt."
From: [info]i_estrange Date: 12/22/2005 15:01:16
"Any inside covering should be good for this .. We have three possible means of finding your brother outside of the normal running around and hoping not to hit any trouble on the way, which could take hours I might add."
Another cautious peek was given around that corner. Coast seemed to be clear for the moment so he spoke quickly as a means to save time.
"If you think you may have a vague recollection of where he is then we can fly over the cityscape in that general direction. Mind you, I won't be able to sustain flight for too long with both of our weights. I could search the city in my astral form. It's faster, but I don't know what he looks like. That makes it difficult. Or.."
Another burst of rapid gunfire cut him off.
"If you have something of his I can attempt a locating spell. I haven't tested portals in this city, and I'm a little wary of sending you through one .. But at least we'd have a location and I could tell him to stay put until you get there."
He tried to keep most of the mystical jargon out of his explanations for simplicity's sake, but that may have made it even more confusing for the young man. He wasn't sure. He was only sure that they needed to act quickly.
That last burst gunfire had Sam's hand at his back again. He listened to Dr. Strange's suggestions and nodded at the last one. "All right. Let's go with the locating spell. I'll take the chance with the portals. Come on; let's go this way. If the streets haven't changed too much there was shelter back here."
He led Dr. Strange down the next street, one heading the same direction the one that just became the alley had traveled. The second street hadn't changed and Sam caught his bearings. He stopped and shouldered open the door of an abandonded building; he'd taken refuge there during one particularly spectacular gunfight earlier.
Once inside he opened his backpack, lifting on one of thr sawed-off shotguns. In all technicality the guns were far more Dean's than his. Especially that shotgun full of rock salt. He handed it to Dr. Strange with a "Thank you for doing this."
From: [info]i_estrange Date: 12/23/2005 08:55:59
"Don't thank me until it works," Strange replied once they were under the cover of the building.
He took the shotgun and set it on the floor, kicking away a few items of debris and dirt so there wouldn't be any excess distractions in his proximity of incantation.
"Step back in case this doesn't work..."
He sat down in front of the weapon with his legs crossed in a semi-meditative position. Eyes closed and that medallion hovered away from his chest and broke into a myriad of colorful planetesque bubbles, each separating into smaller pieces and surrounding that floor-ridden item until the gun began to hover over the cement.
Strange mumbled a few long phrases in some far eastern Tibetan dialect and within a few seconds a murky deep-purple hued doorway opened across from him. His eyes opened to reflect an opaque and glowing white state as he tried to look through that portal to the other side.
More buildings. More similar looking city streets. For all intensive purposes it could have been the exact same place they were at that moment.
Then again, nothing in the City was as it appeared.
Sam watched. It had been four years since he'd come face to face with the supernatural - not counting Jessica's death - but even with his experience in the field, it was a whole new thing to watch Strange's abilities. He stood, back against a wall, nervously worrying, biting rather, the inside of his lip. After a long tense moment of silence, Sam tasted a tart metallic tang in his mouth. Blood. He'd managed to bite the inside of his lip without noticing till the blood hit his tongue. Forcing himself to relax, Sam watched Dr Strange.
And hoped.
From: [info]i_estrange Date: 12/25/2005 11:55:37
The portal wavered for a moment, probably in effect of the city's constant shifting. It fizzled, much like a television with poor reception, before it stabilized back into its previous appearance.
"It's not going to hold in this location for long," Strange said, his voice sounding somewhat strained.
He winced as though he were having some trouble keeping the doorway from disintegrating into nothingness or jumping to a new destination. Then he glanced over at Sam with glowing eyes.
"I can't verify the safety of it but .."
The portal quivvered again.
".. It might not take you to the exact location .. Maybe within a few blocks .."
Strange was having trouble making out the figures on the opposite side of the murky doorway. It could have been anyone. But it was someone.
Sam could tell it was quite an effort for Dr Strange. He wasn't going to pass up this chance, not if there was even a possibilty that was Dean. "I'm going. I'll chance it." He stepped toward the portal, refusing to think of what it could do to him instead of take him to Dean. "Thank you, again. Not very many people would help a total stranger." He smiled just a bit. "Then again. You're a doctor." And he went through the portal.