3305/Strange Check-In

Strange Check-In
Date of Scene:	04 December 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Zachary Lightwing, Doctor Strange

---

Zachary Lightwing has posed:
    "Please find him."

    The words were imploring, because they felt that Zach was in danger of getting slain by a demon he accidentally summoned into the world years ago. They hadn't been able to contact him for years, not since he left the house. There wasn't a trace of an online presence, he hadn't a phone number on record, and the only known record of his existence was someone who worked at a small office building that did contract work for various companies, handling the statistical work that higher ups don't want to deal with.

    It would've taken the use of magic to find him, if not an exhaustive and boring amount of research to find his name somewhere.

    ----

    Zach is seated stiffly in a park near where he works. He wears a heavy black coat, but his slacks suggest he's got his boring beige and white work uniform underneath. His shoes are meticulously shined and black, and his hands are covered by black gloves. He occasionally pauses to adjust his glasses.

    There's something strange about him. Something that sticks out in this cold winter weather.

    He isn't breathing. There's no fog from his mouth, not a single sign of an inhale or exhale. His chest doesn't move. He is, by appearances, almost robotic.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    There's a pair of feet that land behind the bench that Zach is seated up, but the crack slightly over the rough sidewalk as the owner moves towards the front of the bench and an older man with silvery streaks of hair just above his ears looks over to the still young man and yet this man too doesn't have breath that condenses against the cold air.

    Stephen smirks very briefly before he moves to sit on the bench, but his hand moves to undo the bottom button of his over coat so he can sit comfortably. "Cold day, is it not?" Stephen asks, making small talk.

Zachary Lightwing has posed:
    Zachary lifts his eyes and fixates on the stranger almost unblinkingly. He watches him step over and sit nearby, and a light frown creases his mouth. One might mistake the deathly mundane and neutral stare for a glare, from how long it takes to reply to the question. "Yeah," he answers, his voice quiet. His movements, to the trained eye, are almost like an corpse possessed by a spirit. Even the eyes would have that effect.

    "I didn't really notice, I guess it is pretty chilly today," he adds, his brow creasing and a hand going up to touch one of his bitterly cold ears.

    "What's up?" he prompts, with a lift of his brows.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Stephen leans back and lifts his leg to cross on the knee with a cursory glance over to Zach again after the man's question. "Oh, I'm just out in the park. I heard rumor of a man, who had been absent for a very long time, was spending time in this park for some reason or another. I was hoping to meet the man and maybe try and hear his side of the story." Stephen says with a subtle smile on his lips.

Zachary Lightwing has posed:
    There's a pause there. Silence.

    Zachary speaks up, with obvious confusion in his tone, "You mean me."

    He turns his head to look around, and then back over to Stephen. "Who sent you? My parents?" He is starting to sound panicked. "Tell them to leave me alone."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Stephen seems to have sensed as much might be the case and he nods. "I'll tell them that, certainly." The wizard's smile fades, as he's done trying to be polite and is more just forward in his words and questions.

    "I wont bother you after this any more, I'm not just a curious party that wants to know your side of the story. You're certainly old enough to do as you wish and want. I wont force you to do anything you don't want to." Strange assures.

Zachary Lightwing has posed:
    That isn't the answer Zach expected. His eyes widen and for a moment his robotic behavior fades. His mouth opens as if to say something, but he closes it again.

    A nearby lamp hums and brightens... and a tingling pressure of magic blankets the air. This is an innate, raw sensation. It fades out, as if it were just a release of pressure.

    "Wait..." He holds up a hand, urging Stephen to stay, the panick lighting anew, but of a different flavor. "Why were they looking for me?"

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "They never said anything like that but to me it seemed like a desire parents have to find their child back. But this is why I sought you out. Not for their sake, but more to satiate my own curiosity." Stephen admits, not having stood up, but still leaning back in the bench as if he was going to be here for quite a while. His grey eye looks over to the lamp in a curious fashion but he doesn't say anything about it.

Zachary Lightwing has posed:
    Zachary takes in this person seemingly for the first time. His eyes shine with a strange glow that doesn't appear to be there when directly viewed. What he happens to see, or smell, or whatever he did to gauge the qualities of the Sorceror Supreme, it determines how he is going to answer this. It helps that Stephen's behavior implies he's able to keep a veneer of secrecy over his behavior.

    "They sent a practitioner," he surmises, voice low so he isn't overheard, the word 'practitioner' obviously meaning mage here, "That's just like them, too."

    He rubs the back of his neck and begins the boiled down story.

    "I don't know if you can tell the extent of it, but my brief brush with the Arts had some deep consequences. It doesn't really care how young you are when you screw up and I screwed up bad," he explains, "Bad enough to get my brother killed, and the consequences eventually found me. It's a miracle I still exist at all. I'm still not sure why I'm still here."

    "Does that sate your curiosity?"

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "Part of it." Stephen says truthfully. He looks back over at Zachary and nods solemnly knowing the loss of a sibling. "I find it odd you still think of yourself being alive as a miracle." Stephen says, leaving a deeper hidden meaning in his words wondering if the young man will pick up on the thought process and run with it or not.

Zachary Lightwing has posed:
    Zachary seems to catch onto it. He quickly starts to look uncomfortable, and his gaze turns away from Stephen's. His mouth creases into a frown as if he's fighting the emotions behind that. He looks back to the mage and tells him...

    "Something brought me back. I was dead, and it brought me back. I don't know if it was just something I could always do, or..."

    No, this wasn't normal magic. A human soul doesn't work like that. Something interfered.

    "If not a miracle, than a curse. Right?" His voice cracks a little.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "Lets just leave it at something kept you from dying or passing on or whatever happens." Stephen says. He blinks a single time and then shrugs his shoulders. "Maybe it was you who did it. Do you seem to recall anything of the incident?" Stephen asks.

Zachary Lightwing has posed:
    "I was attacked while visiting my brother's grave," he explains, "And I... died there. Then..."

    "I saw a green light. It was dying, and alone. So... I reached out to it. I figured, if I was dying, I could at least help something before I went."

    "Then I woke up," Zachary concludes, "And I was different after that."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "Hmmm." Stephen says softly to himself and blinks as he ponders these words spoken to him by the young man.

    "Have you continued to study magic since your reawakening?" The sorcerer surpreme seems to be taking an interest in the boy and is certain he could help in some way.

Zachary Lightwing has posed:
    "No."

    Zachary shakes his head slowly after the terse reaction, knocking free his paranoid feelings on it. "Where would I even start?" he wonders, "It's not like there's a college for it I can apply to, and after..." After everything he's been through, he's more than a little gun shy.

    "The last time I tried..." he trails off, rubbing the side of his face, his somber state visible.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "You have a lot of potent potential and natural ability." Stephen admits with a lifted eyebrow before he whispers. "Would you like to study if you had the chance?"

Zachary Lightwing has posed:
    Zachary looks startled by the statement of his potential. His nature conflicts with itself. He is obviously a man that goes to great pains to appear normal, even when he's not.

    But his curiosity thrums in his mind.

    "Y..." he hesitates, "Yes," he answers, conviction boiling into his voice. "... who are you?" he wonders, realizing he had never asked. "You have me at a disadvantage."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "I am Doctor Stephen Strange. The Sorcerer Supreme of this dimension." The wizard says with a soft nod. "I am generally too busy to give individual lessons, but I can give you access to several other students and pupils and my near endless libraries and means of practice. If you have a way to get to Greenwich that is."

Zachary Lightwing has posed:
    Zachary visibly pales as he realizes who he is talking to. It's a dazed look that Stephen's bound to have seen before from others at least versed in the terminology. "Sorc..." he whispers, not finishing the phrase. He looks around the park as his processes that, adjusting his glasses once more.

    "Greenwich... isn't that in England?" he wonders, "I could get there. Pretty fast, too. But not physically." He shakes his head. "I... could find a doorway, but that would take time."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "Greenwich Village." Stephen says softly before adding. "177 Bleeker Street." The wizard notes.

    "Show up there when you're ready to learn real magic and make a difference." Next the wizard quickly folds in half at the waist, and then again, then she folds one more time, impossibly before he suddenly folds again and simply disappears into the nothingness.

Zachary Lightwing has posed:
    And there he goes, just... weirdly teleporting out of sight.

    Zach stares at the spot Doctor Stephen Strange was sitting at with disbelief, and then stands up and thinks aloud...

    "I need to learn how he does that."