I can't think of anything. He was sleepwalking pretty much every night, he was eating at first, but very little— and lately he's been throwing up black bile and his blood results were... also black bile, I think? He didn't want to worry us, so I don't know if he's told us everything.
[ he can't think of anything else that would be relevant, but just in case he adds: ]
He was managing the sleepwalking with pot. Regular, not magical, though he hangs out with the Theater crowd often enough there's probably been magic pot involved too.
You do realize that like, the only reason I caught onto it was because I have a super nose, right? Nobody back home suspected anything.
( but it's not like he knows how well other witches can catch onto stuff or how powerful this guy is so like whatever. maybe it is obvious to people who aren't just baseline humans. maybe stephen can see right through it. )
Andy hasn't eaten much since the incident happened. His body can't really process foods, because it's still patching itself up together. I don't know what the black bile is, but I'm pretty sure that's his body trying to cough up the bad, dead stuff inside of him. I've been trying to catch him when he's sleepwalking, because that's newish, but I haven't had any luck yet.
[ stephen snaps the journal shut with extended fingertips. ]
Long story short, I’d like to take a closer look at the entity residing in Andy’s corpse, maybe see if the terms of its lease need any renegotiation. And then [ with one of those lilting side-to-side nods that suggests stephen’s still mentally cycling through this piece-- ] perhaps addressing the whole corpse thing. Extremely preliminary steps, with the main objective being to ensure Andy, or what’s left of him, will still be around and about at the end of the day. Any objections so far?
( he's--waiting until andy's gone, blipped out to wherever stephen strange decided he needed to go or whatever. what a weird power. he'll have to look into it some later maybe. or just avoid it for forever. )
You know telling someone that they died and came back as a well-hidden corpse that's slowly patching itself over is a really bad idea, right? Like even ignoring the whole don't tell him thing, would you want to know you died at seventeen and under layers of magic, you're a barely held together husk of what you had been? Especially here of all places?
I didn’t say I was going to tell him. Mr. Young here didn’t say he intended to do so either. But I think you should also consider that living a life in which your loved ones lie to you isn’t an especially enviable position to be in.
[ this isn’t the conversation stephen really wants to have right now, though, not in the least because he thinks it’ll devolve with the elder andy still in the room. he inclines his head again to him and says, ]
Good day, Andy. I’ll speak with you soon.
[ and with the same upwards spiral of sparks from beneath andy’s feet, he’s gone; the shirt and popcorn go with him. stephen lets out a long, idle breath and sits back again, eying kieron. ]
He does want to tell him though. He wants to tell Andy everything he can.
( this is more important right now, he'll get to that other bit later. )
If you were a seventeen year old, barely-alive mostly corpse but protected under layers of glamour and there wasn't anything anyone could do to speed up your healing process, would you want to know? Like if you had an active choice, of being able to go on without knowing about it until after you were in one piece, or knowing while you were still healing? Especially like, here, where getting close to others and letting them touch you or you touch them or getting drugged and having no choice happens at least thrice monthly?
Kieron. Before I was a sorcerer I headed the best neurosurgery team in the world. What that meant was, if someone made it to my operating table they had already received the worst news of their lives. This is because of how the brain works, which is to say that if something is urgently amiss and complex enough to require high-level specialized care, you don’t often have the luxury of remaining ignorant to the problem before you end up under the knife.
During my time in medicine, even children got to know when we were cutting something out that shouldn’t have been there. I know you want to protect your friend. Just know how it sounds, to worry about his agency when you aren’t giving him much to begin with.
[ stephen’s tone isn’t accusatory or argumentative, though. at the end of the day this isn’t his circus. ]
The important thing is, he’s not doing so hot right now. And the thing I saw in him might have hurt him badly if I looked any closer. So before we wade further in this moral swamp, I do want to know: you don’t strike me as a practitioner. On whose authority can you guarantee me the entity in Andy Graham’s body won’t bring him to further harm?
( he doubts literally any of those kids or adults or whatever really wanted to know what was going on with them. they probably would have wanted the luxury of remaining ignorant or whatever, but he's not going to bring that up to some ex neurosurgeon slash current sorcerer. )
When I first met Andy, he was a lot worse. Smelled a lot worse, like an actively rotting corpse just barely holding itself together. I'm not a magician or a witch or a sorcerer or whatever, but it wasn't like Elliot pulled him together and put something in him just so it'd kill him more. The demon in him is pulling his body back together, working to repair the damage. You're right in that I don't know the logistics of it, but I'm sure it's protecting him. Sometimes I'll be with him and I'll start feeling it--like a terrifying presence radiating off of him or something. But it's only ever when Andy's in danger, or when he's stressed.
Take my word with whatever weight you want to, but I'm not new to Andy, or stuff like this.
( but he is pulling himself up to his feet, raises a hand to scratch against the scruff on his jawline. )
Just because something could be bad doesn't mean it is.
( he could argue further: that andy's quality of life actually seems better now, that he's getting better, that ky can tell even if stephen strange and other andy seem to think they clearly know better and know he's getting worse.
but arguing with them doesn't seem to be getting him anywhere, so ky opts to drop it instead. )
Could you send me back? I was in the middle of something.
[ stephen’s mouth tightens a little, but only a little. he gets it, or at least he thinks he does; but for now kieron’s trust isn’t something he can earn today, and more importantly it isn’t something he needs yet to investigate andy’s situation further. ]
I’ll be in touch.
[ those same sparks spiral upwards from beneath kieron is seated. he receives a first-class ticket right back to where he was when stephen plucked him out of thin air, puzzle and all. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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[ he can't think of anything else that would be relevant, but just in case he adds: ]
He was managing the sleepwalking with pot. Regular, not magical, though he hangs out with the Theater crowd often enough there's probably been magic pot involved too.
no subject
( but it's not like he knows how well other witches can catch onto stuff or how powerful this guy is so like whatever. maybe it is obvious to people who aren't just baseline humans. maybe stephen can see right through it. )
Andy hasn't eaten much since the incident happened. His body can't really process foods, because it's still patching itself up together. I don't know what the black bile is, but I'm pretty sure that's his body trying to cough up the bad, dead stuff inside of him. I've been trying to catch him when he's sleepwalking, because that's newish, but I haven't had any luck yet.
no subject
[ stephen snaps the journal shut with extended fingertips. ]
Long story short, I’d like to take a closer look at the entity residing in Andy’s corpse, maybe see if the terms of its lease need any renegotiation. And then [ with one of those lilting side-to-side nods that suggests stephen’s still mentally cycling through this piece-- ] perhaps addressing the whole corpse thing. Extremely preliminary steps, with the main objective being to ensure Andy, or what’s left of him, will still be around and about at the end of the day. Any objections so far?
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[ he glances at ky. ]
And we'd like to disclose to Andy whatever is safe to disclose as soon as it's deemed safe to do so. Thank you, Doctor.
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[ easy, storied professionalism, as if none of this is in deference to the fact that there’s something kieron won’t say in front of andy. ]
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[ he's not happy, but this sorcerer has said all the right things and he knows there's no point fighting ky. ]
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You know telling someone that they died and came back as a well-hidden corpse that's slowly patching itself over is a really bad idea, right? Like even ignoring the whole don't tell him thing, would you want to know you died at seventeen and under layers of magic, you're a barely held together husk of what you had been? Especially here of all places?
no subject
[ this isn’t the conversation stephen really wants to have right now, though, not in the least because he thinks it’ll devolve with the elder andy still in the room. he inclines his head again to him and says, ]
Good day, Andy. I’ll speak with you soon.
[ and with the same upwards spiral of sparks from beneath andy’s feet, he’s gone; the shirt and popcorn go with him. stephen lets out a long, idle breath and sits back again, eying kieron. ]
Anything else you wanna get off your chest?
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( this is more important right now, he'll get to that other bit later. )
If you were a seventeen year old, barely-alive mostly corpse but protected under layers of glamour and there wasn't anything anyone could do to speed up your healing process, would you want to know? Like if you had an active choice, of being able to go on without knowing about it until after you were in one piece, or knowing while you were still healing? Especially like, here, where getting close to others and letting them touch you or you touch them or getting drugged and having no choice happens at least thrice monthly?
no subject
During my time in medicine, even children got to know when we were cutting something out that shouldn’t have been there. I know you want to protect your friend. Just know how it sounds, to worry about his agency when you aren’t giving him much to begin with.
[ stephen’s tone isn’t accusatory or argumentative, though. at the end of the day this isn’t his circus. ]
The important thing is, he’s not doing so hot right now. And the thing I saw in him might have hurt him badly if I looked any closer. So before we wade further in this moral swamp, I do want to know: you don’t strike me as a practitioner. On whose authority can you guarantee me the entity in Andy Graham’s body won’t bring him to further harm?
no subject
When I first met Andy, he was a lot worse. Smelled a lot worse, like an actively rotting corpse just barely holding itself together. I'm not a magician or a witch or a sorcerer or whatever, but it wasn't like Elliot pulled him together and put something in him just so it'd kill him more. The demon in him is pulling his body back together, working to repair the damage. You're right in that I don't know the logistics of it, but I'm sure it's protecting him. Sometimes I'll be with him and I'll start feeling it--like a terrifying presence radiating off of him or something. But it's only ever when Andy's in danger, or when he's stressed.
Take my word with whatever weight you want to, but I'm not new to Andy, or stuff like this.
( but he is pulling himself up to his feet, raises a hand to scratch against the scruff on his jawline. )
Just because something could be bad doesn't mean it is.
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So he’s got a guardian angel. If that’s true, great. It’s still impeding the quality of his life now, which to me is worth a look.
[ a pause. and then, a little pained, as if it’s obvious: ]
I won’t hurt him.
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but arguing with them doesn't seem to be getting him anywhere, so ky opts to drop it instead. )
Could you send me back? I was in the middle of something.
( clearly his jigsaw puzzle misses him. )
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I’ll be in touch.
[ those same sparks spiral upwards from beneath kieron is seated. he receives a first-class ticket right back to where he was when stephen plucked him out of thin air, puzzle and all. ]