@stephen.strange | via morningstar network, a couple of days after cassius' post

[rehandle]

[ It isn't real. That's a fact upon a fact: none of it is real, but this even less so.

Usually, knowledge matters. It had for a while here too. Taken him from staggering frantically down part-collapsed tunnels over obstacles whose names he didn't know, calls giving way to bellows, in search first of life and then just of obstacles whose names he did know— to sitting quietly, raking thick air into his lungs, body too beleaguered to be good for more than waiting for the day to end.

And eventually he'd slept. And the day did end. And when he woke and turned on his flashlight to gear himself up for greeting the millions who ought now to be staggering back down into the tunnels, fresh from their reset - he'd found them exactly where he'd left them.

This will not be ending soon. This will not be over until somebody makes it so. But his thoughts won't be gathered into shape. The wall at his back is still hot from the blast. The air is cloying. His skin sloughs under his touch.

The quiet is too heavy. He needs the reminder. ]



Talk to me
Please



[ ooc: for those in the sim, none of the things described in the above brackets will be visible to anyone but him, but Stephen will have been seen by some about half a day before this post searching haphazardly around the tunnels, calling both in general and then specifically for people, then staring very intently with varying expressions of grim hopelessness at patches of nothing, and eventually giving that up for sitting very quietly on the ground in a tunnel somewhere. He's non-responsive to attempts to interact with him throughout and wouldn't previously have been replying to any attempts to contact him via the network either.

Feel free to assume your character has spotted him or been aggressively bumped into by him or heard about him being Weird, or on the flipside to have no idea he's been acting like he's having a really bad trip. ]

Comments

[rehandle]

Desperately.

[ It's funny because everyone's dead. ]

[gravemistake]

Gotta admit

not the post I was expecting from you.

[rehandle]

Unusual times

[gravemistake]

You need me to take care of anything on the outside?

[rehandle]

If you could stop Tony Stark from doing anything too characteristically reckless I'd be obliged

[ It's a joke with endless punchlines but it's not entirely in jest. ]

[gravemistake]

This guy's reputation really precedes him, huh?

[rehandle]

Unfortunately, yes

[gravemistake]

I'll take good care of him.

[rehandle]

Good luck. He's already complaining

[ But no, actually, needling at Tony aside - ]

Thanks.

[ It does matter. ]

[gravemistake]

Don’t mention it. Can’t be any worse than Jack.

[rehandle]

[ Ah. ]

I'd offer to return the favor but I'm a little out of range

[gravemistake]

Yeah, I got that. Let me know if you need anything else.

[rehandle]

[ A thanks has already been said. A reciprocal offer is null and void. So - ]

I will.

[ Maybe he even means it. ]

@tony.stark | private

[voicelog]

not cool, man

private

[rehandle]

We may not share a universe Stark but I know you well enough

Reyes won't take it too seriously

[voicelog]

i don't need a babysitter

even one that won't take it seriously

[rehandle]

No, you need a teammate

You're not on your own out there. Make the most of it

[voicelog]

i'm all for more help
but

quit worrying about me ok
take care of yourself first

[rehandle]

I'm perpetually dying at the whim of a vengeful AI, there's only so much taking care of myself I can do

[voicelog]

if you need a break, you know you can just ask me right?

[rehandle]

Provided you don't get yourself incapacitated

See? I was taking care of myself all along

[ Fight him, Stark, he's got your number ]

[voicelog]

[ u little shit

don't get cheeky with him. ]

sure, i'll get myself incapacitated AFTER i give you a break

[rehandle]

Too kind

[voicelog]

i'm being serious, stephen

if you need to catch your breath, i'll come over
so don't try to act tough and suffer through it on your own

i know you too

[rehandle]

Now isn't the time for playing favorites, Tony

I'm not on my own
Use that time on the bigger picture