8860/No Need for a Missing Person's Case

No Need for a Missing Person's Case
Date of Scene:	19 August 2019
Location:	Tribeca - Manhattan
Synopsis:	Felicia finds her missing Sorcerer.
Cast of Characters:	Doctor Strange, Black Cat

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Doctor Strange has posed:
    It's been a few days since Stephen Strange was demoted in a rather self-defeating manner, and so the wizard went for a walk to clear his mind.

    This can be a problem when you possess an eidetic memory and it's nearly impossible to clear it. Even with the dense fogs and harsh winds of New York.

    Stephen has wandered for a while picking up a change of clothes out of the gi he has gotten so used to, now wearing a simple pair of slacks and worn dark grey button up shirt left untucked while the wizard finds his way towards the edge of the park and leans against the metal rail over looking the river. His scared hands barely clasp each other as he looks down at the greatest symbols of his failures.

Black Cat has posed:
Despite her initial trepidations on the matter of seeking out one miss Lara Croft at her friend Jonah's wonderful restaurant, nothing bad had come of it. The archaeologist and fellow cohort of Doctor Strange was in the loop and now possessed the faux-Orb of Spring handed off to Felicia by Wong -- er, 'Wong' -- the cat-burglar knows no better of yet another illusion sprung on her. Regardless, having awoken the next morning after indulging in...too many Screwdrivers, Felicia admits...

...some form of defeat. Perhaps it is a waiting game at this point. Perhaps haring off after the man like a hound on the scent of a stag isn't the way to go about things. As such, and after another little cry at Shammy, most sympathetic in his feline way, the Cat meanders out of her house. Fresh air seemed like the best option because, let's face it, drinking is not attractive when you're still somewhat hungover. Her feet, in sandals, take her through her neighborhood and down towards the Hudson River Park, by the western riverside. In a flowing white shirt and layered blossom-pink camisole, she walks without paying too much attention to where she's going. Her platinum-blonde hair is braided back from her face but for wisps that slip free, as they are wont to do.

It's when she goes to tuck the wisps away from her face with manicured nails and glance up at the waterfront that she goes still.

The outline. The shoulders, the -- the -- is that darker hair?

"Stephen?" the Cat breathes, color rushing from and then flooding her cheeks. A little louder now, as she begins walking briskly across the grass towards him, vision narrowed. "Stephen?!"

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Stephen sighs down towards the choppy waters below the walkway and the sound of his own name barely reaches his ear from the din of the winds and the water. The second call reaches his ear and his shoulders rise in response to the familiar sound of his own name. He looks over his shoulder with his hands grasping onto the rails as he does so. "Fe-Felicia?" He says, his bloodshot eyes framed even redder by the harsh bags beneath his eyes and the beard that has filled out not a few days after the thief requested him to go back to his normal stylish goatee.

    "How did you find me?" Stephen asks as he lets go of the rail and starts to reach out slowly to the love of his life.

Black Cat has posed:
"Stephen!" This iteration squeaks at the top of her vocal range, almost hypersonic -- he might need to read it on her lips, though these tremble like mad as she closes the distance at something more of a loping jog. She slams into the Doctor with checked force, enough perhaps to make him stumble back into the railing and then hugs him. His ribs might creak. She buries her face into his sternum at least for a few jolting huffs of breath before...

"Oh my god, you -- you -- WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Her voice steadily rises in volume until it reaches the roar of an outraged lionness -- at least, before she catches herself and simply, forceabily makes herself calm down. Palms smoothe over the front of his dark-grey shirt as if to fix lapels that aren't there. A slow sniffle brings her jade-green eyes to rise to his face. Is she mad? Terrified? Relieved? It all twitches over her features in microseconds.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "Feli-OOF!" Stephen grunts with the wind knocked out of him by the force of the cat burglar slamming into him and wrapping him up like a professional footballer and yet he stands using the railing as a wall and a brace all at the same time. Strange eventually pries at least one hand from the bear trap that is Felicia's embrace and he uses it to wrap around her shoulders and hold the woman to his weak frame.

    "I am not sure... the last few days have been a haze." Stephen says between short breaths as he's trying to recover from the squeeze. "It's okay Felicia. I'm here now..." All of his words trail off though, as if he was physically here, but his mind is still wandering the streets of New York and beyond. He is a lost soul with his purpose stripped.

Black Cat has posed:
"I know you're here, you...you are here," the young woman repeats to herself as she finishes compulsively straightening the front of his shirt. Blinking a few times, his current state of disheveled and shocked seems to catch up with her. Her eyes fill with tears. "Okay, come on, honey. Come on, come with me. You need a shower and some food at the very least, //maybe// a stiff drink if you want one." Linking her arm with his, Felicia then attempts to coax him to walk with her back towards her house.

And her coaxing very quickly turned to something a bit more brisk, as if she wished to squirrel him away and fight the world arriving at her door afterwards.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Stephen's arm is hooked easily as he is pulled by the thief towards in the direction of her house. Stephen puts up zero fight with the woman and is eventually slipped out of the crook of her arm though his hand does try to squeeze onto Felicia's, not wanting to be apart but also not physically able to keep up with the speedwalking enhanced super woman. "I have to figure out food though, nothing you have is edible." Stephen sighs as he struggles and stumbles a little to keep up.

    Stephen follows as well as he can before he stumbles once more and gasps sharply, "Felicia, slow down... Please." He says, emaciated as he is, and doubling over to catch his breath. "We're fine... nothing's going to happen..."

Black Cat has posed:
With a self-flagellating squeak, Felicia comes to a stop and steps back beside the silver-templed man. Her arm comes around his waist to offer support in case his knees decide to try and give out on him. "Okay, okay...I'm sorry, I just...you were missing and I'm still scared about it. I want to see you comfortable again, you look..." She bites the corner of one red-red lip and continues, almost apologetically, "...kind of like a starving artist who tried eating his paints."

It's with slower steps and more careful handling that she directs them both to the side-gate of her house, opened with a sixteen-digit passcode, and then inside. It's cool and quiet within. Stephen's immediately steered to sit on a sumptuous couch -- or lie down, whatever suits his druthers. "Let me at least get you some water. You...you think about what will sit in your stomach," she murmurs, planting a lingering kiss on his forehead before practically jogging to the kitchen.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Stephen leans onto Felicia as lightly as he can handle, which, ends up with her nearly carrying him as he's beyond tired and hungry. They make it through the gate and back into Felicia's appartment rather uneventfully as the sorcerer is placed on the couch and he looks up towards Felicia as she kisses his forehead and then does her bubbly sort of prance through the place, putting a faint smile on Stephen's cracked lips. "What's the oldest thing you have in your freezer?" Stephen asks calmly.

Black Cat has posed:
"Uh...."

The sound of things clunking and thudding answers him immediately. Dispensing water follows and Felicia returns with a pint glass filled to the brim with cool, clean water. Handing this off to Stephen, she winces.

"It's...fish sticks. Like, the kind with the yellow bag and the fisherman guy on the front with the hat. They're...like...seven months old," she mutters, definitely embarrassed to admit it.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "Thank you." Stephen says as he reaches out with both hands to take the glass, knowing full well he couldn't handle it with one hand in his current state. Pausing in the coversation to drink as much as he can at once, Stephen smacks his lips before setting the glass down and looking back to Felicia. "That wont do... Can you give Wong a call, he will be able to help." Strange whispers before he looks up to Felicia's eyes and he tries to smile as his eyelids fight staying up weakly. He seems very tired all of a sudden. "I'm not going anywhere." He whispers as he rolls against the couch to lay his head down on one of the side pillows.

Black Cat has posed:
Felicia nods quickly, almost hilariously so, at his request. "Call Wong, right -- yes, I can call him -- or Lara can, maybe, she has a lot of peoples' numbers." Seeing him begin to slump in what appears to be a consensus towards exhaustion, the Cat has a moment of abject terror. Oh god, what if it's --

-- no, it's just exhaustion, she reminds herself. Straightening up makes her joints creak as if she had been strung lighter than a lute-string. A quick glance around the room and she finds one of the many cashmere blankets folded over another chair's back. Stephen is tucked away beneath this and she kneels to hug him where he lays. Her cheek rests against the rougher tickle of his temple. Closing her eyes, the thief lingers, listening to him breathe and allowing herself a precious moment of peace. A tear slips before she wipes it away quickly, not wanting it to fall on him and perhaps wake him.

"Wong...got it," she whispers before pulling away and going to find where she put down her phone. Plans are to be made.