15378/Paging Doctor Strange. Are You Still Alive

Paging Doctor Strange. Are You Still Alive
Date of Scene:	25 July 2023
Location:	Sanctum Santorum - Base Floor
Synopsis:	The mystic trio descend upon Strange's Sanctum once again. This time they meet an interesting woman - and Strange decides to eat an interplanar worm.
Cast of Characters:	Lucifer, Doctor Strange, Sinister, Enchantress (Moone), Phantasm (Drago)

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Lucifer has posed:
It's been a hot minute since the Devil and his companion graced the front steps of the Sanctum. Last time they were here, a lot of strange things went on (no pun intended) with Strange at the base of some of the happenstances. Now, they're back, and once again without warning or invitation. That's the thing about these two. They simply seem to...show up. Unannounced. Uninvited.

But always with a plan. And a gift.

In this instance, Lucifer is holding a slender gift bag that's big enough to only hold a bottle or some such as that. Something definitely cylindrical at best. He's not dressed up today, no, these are casual affairs. So dark wash jeans and a tee shirt is his attire of choice. "One of these days showing up somewhere like this is going to get us punched in the face. At best."

Doctor Strange has posed:
Strange is, as one might imagine, use to strange happenstance. He's also use to uninvited guests, though largely those are of the unwanted variety. People just don't 'come visit' the Sorcerer Supreme, both for good reason and his personal pleasure. One might not take it away from his outwardly charming demeanor, but Strange is not a people person.

Not wearing his usual wizardly finary, the good Doctor is, instead in an apron. In a kitchen designed to cook things that are, strictly speaking, not of this Earth... maybe not this dimension. Certainly not this plain of existance. Some fo the ingrediants are moving, while Stephen is flipping pages of a levitating cook book with a flick of his fingers through the air.

"Stop complaining..." He murmurs disruptively to the whines of whatever creature, wormlike that it is, he's holding over a boiling green cauldron. It lashes at his wrist with whip like appendages, rebounding off a protective shield that prevents it doing any damage, "We've been through this before, your job is to be eaten.. my job is to eat you. Without rules reality crumbles. Do you want to destroy reality again? No, I didn't think you do.. now get in the pot."

Sinister has posed:
"Considering where this is and who this is, the latter. At best would be the best case scenario," Sinister opines this with a glance behind them. Greenwich village. Inside, very much not what you'd think was inside. He sighs softly to himself, glances at a charm bracelet on his wrist with a lift of the forearm and turn of hang and back around and about. He's in white-shirt, black leather pants, black leather vest, with a gold pendant depicting a serpent being clutched in raven claws at his neck.

And senses being what they are, he listens to the faint sound of talk from the direction of the kitchen that he can perceive. "What in the name of Gordon is he doing?" -- excuse him whilst his feet go carefully wandering. "This way," said to Lucifer, with a call over his shoulder.

Enchantress (Moone) has posed:
June Moone had been intending to approach Doctor Strange for a while. Her particular problem isn't something she can solve on her own. She's not even sure it can or should be solved. But her occult research tells her that Stephen Strange is one of the foremost sorcerers on Earth and, well, magic made her a slave to the Enchantress. Maybe it can cut her chains.

At the very least, if things go bad, maybe he can be prepared. Forewarned is forearmed.

Her hair is up in a bun and she's wearing a conservative knee-length skirt and a dark green blouse. She's about to go up the steps to the Sanctum to knock when suddenly there are men there. Strange, fabulous, monstrous men that make the thing that lives deep inside her soul scream and rattle the bars of the cage June keeps her in. As best she can. For as long as she can.

She breaks into a sweat. "Maybe...maybe this isn't the best time..." she says softly.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Be it fate or weird timing, paths have converged upon the Sanctum as these four persons have gathered. But even with four gathered it could still possibly be just coincidence that they chose this time to come here. But as June comes in through the front door. Another door adjacent to the main entry way, situated in a place where a door probably shouldn't be opens, allowing for a fifth to enter the area. Backpack resting upon one shoulder, Nick steps through, head immediately turning to look in the direction Strange is working in. The open door gives a glimpse to a grand entrance way which DEFINITELY does not fit in the space behind the door shown.

The door is closed. "Hey Strange, I didn't ask because I figured he was busy school side but, where's Wong been recently? Is he trave-?"

Someone's here.

Nick's head turns, looking to see the other three. "Oh hey!"

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer watches as Sinister just sort of waltzes on into the Sanctum, but perhaps that's fine because while this is a home, it's also a school and a safe haven and likely a plethora of other things. Lucifer is keen to know someone is behind them and he turns to find the young woman, one eyebrow lofting upwards as he watches the little beads of sweat begin to form.

"You're already here. You might as well come in. Don't let us scare you, we're all friends here." Offering this and then, because he is who he is, he offers his arm to June. "Come on, no time like the present and all that."

Presuming all goes as well, or not, he either enters with June or without. Either way he hears Nick's greeting and offers a smile to the man. "Hey! We came to check and make sure Strange is still actually alive and not either a zombie or some weird inbetween. How are you?"

Doctor Strange has posed:
Some weird inbetween is the balance of the Doctor.

When the others join him in the kitchen, he no longer resembles that of the living dead. Though his features are still quite gaunt, they are more of a sickly palour over the infective rot it had been a week passed. With a hand holding some form of worm, with appendages wrapping around his wrist, as he pushes it down towards a bubbling and popping pot of some disgustingly aromatic oil.

And that's not even the weirdest thing happening in the Sanctum at any given time.

With a brow raised, Stephen glances up at his quartet of visitors and offers a strained smile. "Dinner's almost ready." Finger flicks, turning the page. "Could someone hand me that salt shaker? Be careful with it, please. I died three times getting that small amount and it's absolutely necessary if 'anyone' is expected to eat this uncooperative little shit."

The worm whines, peers up at Strange, and then resumes struggling.

With his raised hand, he flicks for everyone to join him. "Don't be fooled by those wormy dog eyes, either. This little monster is... or was.. going to be responsible for countless deaths. Not anymore, though, oh no... now I'm going to eat you."

Sinister has posed:
"And this is why animapaths become vegan in a hurry," Sinister murmurs to himself. About then of course, the man realizes where he just wandered straight into and does a mental tally of body parts. Spectacles, testicles, wallet, watch, only done in the reverse order... yep, all vestibules and limbs are as they should be. Drago gets a polite little nod of the head, though a good deal of attention lingers on June as she seems to be struggling with ... a raging inner turmoil? One arched brow spocks above the other and he inclines his head that-a-way also, tripping eyes upon the more talkative of the arrivals that came as a pair and allowing the other brow to join the first. There's a brief little flick of his eyes toward the heavens before a gesture has the salt shaker very smoothly and carefully levitating itself within reach of the potentially multitudinous struggle of Strange vs the Worm.

"Oddly, that looks a lot like a hydra." He comments. "Considerably bigger than they usually are. Although in this case, I suspect considerably smaller. Or that size isn't a concern when it comes to mass slaughter?"

He looks back to June again, nagged by a feeling. "Greetings. I know I've never met you. Doctor Essex.... but you may call me Nathaniel. And who might I have the pleasure of?"

Enchantress (Moone) has posed:
June Moone has trouble looking at Lucifer, that dazzling charisma and charm a little overwhelming, even in small doses. She lowers her eyes but nods gently, steeling herself in her own way.

"You're right. I've come this far. I can get over the threshold," she says.

So she follows up and along behind Sinister and Lucifer, a small satchel sideslung on her body and overflowing with her own notes, tomes and research. She catches the tip of the toe of her sensible shoes on the doorstop and stumbles a second going in.

Given that she is the container of a terrifying cosmic horror, she may or may not set off alarms in the Sanctum. Admittedly, this audience may find her less terrifying than most, by which Enchantress would feel very, very put out. Sinister's greeting causes her to revert to her polite manners, however, as she nods softly, "My name's June Moone," she says. "It's nice to meet you. Nice to meet you all, I mean," she says, looking around nervously.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick takes a moment to slide the stray strap of the backpack on to his other shoulder to distribute the weight a bit better. "Yeah, he's just Strange right now. And uh... I've been keeping busy. Rehearsals, Writing some new things, testing them out, see what takes and what needs reworking. That type of stuff."

There's not much more detail given via other means, save for the sense of the possible lingering effects to whatever he was doing behind those doors...

Magic in the simplest of definitions. There is an odd quiet to Nick as he glances over to Sinister for a moment, lifting up a hand to give a quiet wave to him. As everyone's moving towards the kitchen area, Nick starts to walk over there as well, glancing curiously to June. "Hi."

As Sinister does a more formal introduction, The rockstar glances over to see What's for dinner for Strange. A brow raises to the view. Before he looks away.

Lucifer has posed:
"If worm isn't on anyone else's menu list, other forms of refreshment can be provided..." Lucifer offers as he takes a step towards Strange, since June isn't quite on his arm. "Stephen. Do we /want/ the worm for dinner? Or do we just wanna cook it to kill it and then feed to...I don't know...the dog? I'm sure Cerberus would be so inclined...or perhaps one of the hellhounds." This much more before he glances back and around to the others.

Introductions. Right. "June. What a lovely name. I am Lucifer Morningstar, but you can of course call me Lucifer." He offers this before looking to Nick and gives the man a nod. "I'm sure life is going to keep you busy for a while. I still need to remember to email your manager."

Finally, full circle, he turns back around to Strange. "Well now that there's mixed company half of what I wanted to talk about isn't likely tonight. However..." He lifts the bag, then makes it float. "This bottle is for you. Another gesture of, I'm sorry we barged in on you. Again. Gift."

Doctor Strange has posed:
Stephen doesn't seem taken aback or put off by the general concensus of passing on dinner, though as the worm finally meets the bubbling oil it lets loose a scream that sounds a great deal like that of something terribly cute dying a terribly painful death. "Don't be fooled, it's trickery is only outmatched by it's tastiness." For the uninitated, anyways.

Once the appendages release from his wrist as the creature meets it's end, Stephen glances between the quartet, ultimately focusing his attention fully upon June. "June Moone..." Stepping around the cauldron, the neck loop of his apron removed and the garment laid upon the counter. As he approaches, he tilts his head in one direction, then the other. Squnting his eyes as if peering at something, but what he's 'looking' at, is her eyes.

"June Moone, what have you brought into the Sanctum?"

He sounds more put upon than afraid.

Glancing away only long enough to grin at Lucifer, "Oh, I'm definitely going to eat him. As hard as he was to catch?" His brow furrows, head shaking, "No no, I earned that dinner. What's this you've brought?" Hands out for the cylendrical gift bag, periodically looking back June. "Does that thing in their drink?" Presumably to her.

Sinister has posed:
"You know," matter of fact in tone, Sinister observes "...having caught the miscreant and perpetrator of terrible crimes, the considered response isn't /usually/ to then eat the little monster. But I suppose you do the you that you do so well, Stephen." -- He glances to Nick then for some reason and leans a little closer, peering it seems, into the man's ear. He hunkers a little, what with being considerably taller than the rock star, blinks a couple of times and takes his attention back to June, with his eyes trailing off last of all.

And something there, just about the same time as Strange is looking into the woman's eyes, he's looking quite literally -through- her. "My, my, my..." those grey eyes flash with a sheen of red, a moment and it's gone. "I couldn't possibly guess -- shouldn't possibly guess. I am so far out of my depth that I might as well be in the marianas trench." -- a glance to Lucifer, digesting the rest of what is said -- "We're going to have to up our game eventually. The gifts will become expotentially harder to acquire, at this rate."

And with a sniff, he leans on thin air, arms loosely folded and hipshod, held up by nothing but thought. "As to the topics of conversation, I imagine that depends on the disposition of additional company, my darling," which seems aimed at Lucifer. "The lovely lady is here, which says something. But then so am I, which also says something."

Enchantress (Moone) has posed:
June Moone hears Lucifer's name and, can't help it, stumbles back a few steps. Whatever horrors or mysteries she has encountered, June remains a mortal girl who's gotten in far, far deeper than she ever imagined even existing. Once she would have questioned Lucifer's credentials, but now...how can she? Given what she already knows.

Then Strange approaches her and she almost wilts, biting her bottom lip. "I'm sorry, I...I shouldn't have come, I..."

"I can't say her name. That would...call her," she murmurs. "And she wants me to call her, she wants it very much. I feel the pressure of it in my heart and my head and it hurts to not say it but I won't, I won't, I won't, I promise." she says, hugging herself for a moment with white knuckles.

"Maybe...maybe I could use a drink." If there's a seat anywhere around, she'll take it, dropping her satchel full of research at her side with a thump.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
As others give June their names, Nick glances over to the woman, giving a small nod of the head. "I'm Nick. You can call me Nick." Quick and to the point. The performer looks back to Lucifer as he mentions the manager, "Could always just ca- Ah. Getting things in writing then."

Once the discussion goes back to eating the worm, Nick tilts his head, "I'm assuming it's more a ritualistic thing?" Based from the raised pitch at the end of the question, there's likely more behind asking it. "You know there's two ways we could interpret your comment about how it tastes."

Getting the sense of being looked at, Nick turns his head, getting a glimpse of Sinister looking his way for a moment. Nick's head tilts questioningly before looking to June, the attentive looks she's getting and then back to June. One doesn't need to read his mind to see the wheels spinning. But the muffler's definitely not working. "Oooh ..Did you wake up one day with something in you? Sucks doesn't it?"

Lucifer has posed:
"What you have in that bag is a bottle of Clase Azul Ultra Tequila. One of the finest in the world and I figured it would go with your exquisite tastes... but please... don't down this bottle like you may have done the gin." He won't say why, and really money is nothing to the Devil but none the less, that bottle cost a pretty penny and wasn't easy to find.

Then all eyes are on June. All of them. Strange is looking at her, Sinister is looking through her, Nick is giving her a bit of empathy. And then there's Lucifer. The Devil. The one who - like Strange but also not - can feel the power pulsating within the woman if he looks quite right. "No. No she won't come out. She might think she wants to come out, but she knows what she's facing. Don't you? A Devil, a Sorcerer and a Scientist? And you want to come join our little fold? More like you know we'll tether you to the land and rip your powers asunder if you try anything..."

Lucifer's words are meant to be scary, without tact, and drip off his tongue like graceful poison. Come, my dear, take a drink - says the spider to the fly. "And you know we'll enjoy it...layer by delicious layer..." Then, once he has June's gaze - and he's been fighting for it this entire time, his eyes will flash with hellfire within them as he gives the most Devil Grin(tm) he can at...well whichever side of June is paying the most attention perhaps.

Doctor Strange has posed:
Strange pulls the exceptionally well crafted bottle from the black velvet gift back and peers down at it where it lays in his hands, one craddling the base and the other neck. "Ah, no... the gin. I had recently returned from the undead, I feel, under those circumstances, exceptions have to be made with regards to decorum." The bottle is held up, now in his right hand, "This will go very well with world eater." The left hand flicks to summon a few glasses from one of the cabinets that make their way over to set themselves up on the counter beside his disgarded apron.

With his brow raised.

Lucifer is quite right.

Strange glances up at June, promising she wont call upon the ancient being inside her. "She hasn't the gale to come playing Witcheroo Switcheroo in my Sanctum." He points the bottle at the human host of the Enchantress, "Stay in your lane. Being old doesn't make you immortal anymore than being young makes me unable to fuck your world up."

"Drinks?" His charming grin returns, glancing around. "Drinks."

The pot bubbles and pops.

"I assure you, Nick, I meant that it tastes good. It's delicious... at least that's what I told myself." Uncorking the bottle, he begins to pour one glass and stops, "Literally, I told myself." Hand flip flopping back and forth, "Well, indirectly. Regardless, the worm is dead, I'm hungry, the ancient evil in her isn't stupid... and there's very expensive tequilla." Then he begins to pour.

Sinister has posed:
Sinister resumes his leaning on the air, having postponed it for peering at people and through people. It means he has a ring side seat to the lines being drawn and commiserations being had. "For what it's worth, I know what it's like having things in my head, but they're usually there on my terms. That probably skews the dynamic somewhat." He smiles at June. "I'm not going to state cases or lay things down nice and plain either. I'm just here for the tequila, I think." -- there were other reasons and he casually glances at his charm bracelet again -- "Did you also tell yourself not to dissolve cubes of contagion in the oil for flavour? I hope so, because this little queenlet has been quite useful as a focus." He jangles the otherwise ordinary glass cube on his wrist, smiling at it. It fogs over with grey and then a mist of red for a moment, before going clear again, as if something inside were banging against the surface.

"That's probably one of the things I'm not suspposed to be talking about. We're not supposed to be talking about, yes? no? Anyway, now that I've started, I'll finish." He crosses his arms again "She's from this galaxy. The mad gibbering doesn't help me pinpoint where, but I've used her resonant frequency to terminate all her progeny, which apparently is a beneficial side effect to having a queenie in a cube. Who knew?"

Enchantress (Moone) has posed:
Nothing Enchantress loves more than a man talking down to her, threatening her. It isn't like she's been hearing that for a thousand years. You're not strong enough. You're pathetic. You're afraid. You can't possibly hurt us.

Their words aren't exactly instilling fear. They're instilling rage. Maybe that's the point. Maybe they're trying to goad her out. June feels that rage burning off of her alter ego and she bends forward and opens her mouth. What she throws up isn't food at all, one would hope, but a flood of poison arrow frogs, pouring out of the girl's throat in a slimy outpouring of horror, her throat visibly bulging for a moment as Enchantress' hate manifests itself in a physical side effect. At the end of it, June closes her mouth and bites her tongue until it bleeds to keep the name from her lips. It's all she can take. Her skin is pale and her brow sweaty as she keeps her prisoner caged. Her eyes look up. pleading and horrified. She came here for help and she has found something else entirely. Blood oozes from the corner of her mouth as her eyes start to tear up. Her sorrow and fear and sense of betrayal only feeds the thing that dwells within her.

Girl's a mess.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Lucifer's comments to June gets a bit of a frown but as Strange basically reminds Lucifer that whatever's in June is not stupid, matters are left to Strange's low-key admonishment.

Nick nods to the mention of drinks. We will not discuss the irony of the group accepting tequila while questioning Strange eating a worm. Just note that the drink offer is agreed to.

Sinister is glanced to as the ring is being explained. Any commentary for that is overriden however as he gets a sense of movement from June. Nick's frown deepens as he sees her start to look a bit nauseated. Stepping forward, he comes to a stop as the pile of frogs appear on the ground, causing for him to look to them for a moment. But as the flow ebbs away, he glances up to the source. Expression darkening at the sight, he sidesteps the frogpile.

Amongst the not very veiled threats, indifference, and talk of Broodetectors, this does seem to be not much of a welcome.

Which might make the arms of the rocker wrapping around her, pulling her into a hug a bit more unreal. A low gentle voice whispers into the nearest ear. Not meant for the others but just for her. "It sucks. I know. But I'm listening."

Lucifer has posed:
"Oh look. A reenactment of the second plague. How..." Lucifer pauses, looking to the frogs, then up to June, then back to the frongs. "quaint." Lucifer is many things, a conjurer is not one of them. But to things that exist on this plane? He looks to nathaniel and then to Stephen. There's a question there, unspoken, but when he gets what he's looking for his attention then goes back to the frogs.

"Alright now. Off ya go...." Saying this to the group of about twenty or so frogs before he wiggles fingers in the air and somehow it looks as though he's tearing reality in twain so the frogs can hop out of the room and off to...only the Devil knows. For all else, he is silent, cause Nick is likely doing a better job at calming that he ever could. Cause he wants to play with the one inside the other.

Doctor Strange has posed:
Nobody has ever mistaken Strange for having an over abundance of compassion to spare.

Sure, the sight of poor, ragged, June Moone spewing frogs is unsettling. Given the precarious nature of events and the unstable elements at play, Stephen returns the glance to Lucifer and gives a fractional nod. The incantations that forbid such powers are dismissed with a discreet curl of Strange's hand so that the Sorcerer Supreme may continue pouring out glasses of tequila.

That being the most important thing...

    At least to him.

        At least right now.

With servings poured and bottle recorked, he sets it down and turns to lean upon the counter. Watching as frogs are cast out! Be gone foul toad... "Quite a dramatic spectacle that." He says, not necessarily to June, but certainly in her direction. Cauldron pops, timer dings.

"Ah, worm's done." Turning, he walks around to peer down into the black stew, absently reaching for a spoon to give it a single stir. "So where does that leave us on our quest for dealing a fatal blow against them?" He asks of Sinister, waving his single stirred spoon. From around the corner flies the cloak of levitation, that it might gently wrap itself around June's shoulders.

Heck, it even tries to dab a corner of fabric against the corner of one eye to clear up her tears. "Vomiting frogs is one thing, but young women crying in my kitchen is far too on the nose for my tastes." A pregnant pause, again peering into the pot, "Only thing crying tonight is the worm I intend to eat."

Sinister has posed:
"It leaves us with a weapon. I still have her and I can alter brainwaves, which means I can target any and all others in their sleep, provided we have a sample, a resonance to work from. This may mean a spot of hunting, but I am optimistic," Sinister replies, but his attention is on June. Not the worm. The worm is another man's business, though the commentary from Lucifer gains a glance and a more critical look upon the young woman in distress. Sometimes, Nick just goes on instinct. Doctor Essex is a little more methodical in his cataloguing and examination -- there's very obvious signs that this is not an act, a genuine cry for help and that, alone, touches a spot deeper in him than some know. Although with this room, most are aware there's more to the depths of the depraved scientist than casually can be observed.

The cloak offering comfort along with the rock star is what clinched some of it for him, because keen observations of a man that tends to wear his heart on his sleeve, doesn't /discount/ Nick, but does make him more prone to the sponteneity than the cloak at least.

He moves over, getting to the side of Nick and tapping the man lightly on the shoulder, gesturing to him to not withdraw per se, but to give a little room as he crouches down and looks up at June instead of towering over her. Psychologically, that's significant at least.

"I'm sorry I didn't hear the scream, it was very quiet on the inside, my dear..." his voice /is/ actually soothing, does have a modicum of care in it. His hand is extended to her, palm up, offering without demanding in contact, in the space between herself and Nick.

"Tears don't stop jut because peoplel tell you they should. And sometimes, we can be extraordinarily obtuse. The cleverest amongst us, the most oblivious of all. Let me help. Let us help."

Enchantress (Moone) has posed:
Nick's embrace brings a shiver to June, the girl momentarily grateful for that brief act of compassion. And the Cloak of Levitation, offering its own strange comfort, even as its master turns a seemingly indifferent eye to June's pain. Her teeth chatter as she tries to speak, only barely forming words, as blood spills down her chin from the incision her teeth put through her tongue.

Then Sinister is speaking to her and she tries to focus her eyes, looking up at him. There is something seeming to cloud her pupils and her irises now, scudding across the surface and then her mind, as Sinister can feel it, seems to twist, some of those fundamental cracks that her passenger has put into her psyche causing her mind to bleed as much as her mouth. And her frown turns upside down so to speak, a wide grin breaking out, smeared gore on her white teeth as she stares up.

"Doctor, I didn't know you cared," she says, then bangs her head back, cracking June's skull backwards towards the chair as if trying to split her head wide open. Maybe she is. She is, in some ways, an unhatched egg and the thing inside wants to be born again so very, very much.

"Oh, I shouldn't have come here. I shouldn't have come here. It'ts all getting worse. So much worse. And the worst part is it's starting to feel good. I always hated myself but now I have someone to hate me with and she hates me so much more than I ever hated myself and she hates all of you even more than she hates me and she wants to show you all that hate, show it over and over again until you're nothing but bloody black smears, except you undying things, you she just wants to torment, forever and ever and ever, and she's not sure she can yet and that makes her even angrier."

She pushes up to her feet, awkward and uneven, trying to shake off the comforting embraces, trying to escape this ring of strangers. Her hair has grown and there are fires in her eyes, green fires. And she starts to sing slowly, in a sing-song voice, wavery and scratchy like something from a Victrola, a quavering melody but familiar to those who know the tune.

"Hello...I must be going...I came to say I cannot stay, I must be going..."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Feeling the tap, Nick's glance shifts over to Sinister. Seeing the gesture he semi shuffles a bit further back to allow the doctor a position up front and center. When she starts to move, Nick moves back, giving her her space. This turns out to be a good idea as she starts thrashing about. Eyes glancing to the general direction of the movements, the musician starts to move over to where there seems the greatest risk of harm to herself. For what purpose, not necessarily known.

"Seeking help is not wrong." Nick comments to the one trying to make their excuses, "Even if you don't think you can get it here, don't give up."