at the suddenty of atreus’ gripping his arse stephen jolted in surprise, looking over his shoulder at his husband with an eyebrow raised.silently narrowing his eyes stephen scoffed, shaking his head before standing from when he was bent over slightly —— having been looking for a certain book, in the library. this wasn’t the first time atreus did that, nor would it be the last, and every single time the mage’s reaction would be as surprised as the last. silently using his book to bat his hand away stephen huffed, pausing slightly before leaning in for a slow kiss. with a pleased hum he’d slide up to his husband, feeling a bit affection, afterwards using his free hand to gently shove his husband’s face to the side and away, motioning for him to leave.
“ get back to your paperwork you bloody menace. i swear, there’s no end with you —— was this morning not enough? maker preserve me.. ”
Smooches his hubby and all but takes him away from his work for snuggles and affection.
at atreus’ kisses stephen would quietly wrinkle his nose, expression openly bemused as he found himself physically picked up and hauled away from the paperwork he was reading. atreus had been gone for mission after mission, leaving him to twiddle his thumbs as he awaited his templar’s return. he was not quite done with his responsibilities, but stephen would wait —— albeit impatiently.
getting ready for bed was an easy task for the mage, in comparison his day-today outfit was much more simply that atreus’. his husband often struggled with his own outfit, something that stephen himself never understood, but none the less the mage moved over to assist —— not before leaning down and nipping at atreus’ shoulder.
How has Stephen been influenced by his relationship with Atreus? Does he think himself better being with him? What's his mindset on the relationship?
it took me a while to answer this because of how frickin complicated stephen’s mind is. stephen as a result of atreus is influenced differently by verse, but for the sake of this question and to make myself not do insane, i’m going to answer this with dragon age verse in mind. if you want me to answer this in 616, just let me know!
in regards to influence in behavior stephen has been a lot less outright hostile, relaxing a looot more than he usually would in public. he’s like two separate people with and without atreus at his side, without him he’s still a bit cold, but with him he’s warmer??? he kinda lets atreus talk, instead opting to be quiet because he’s generally a pretty quiet person, and with atreus he has the opportunity to just sit back and relax for a little bit, letting his partner take the reigns for a change.
he does think he’s a bit of a better person because of atreus, if only just, but he at least feels better mentally ( and physically, atreus gives a good massage and also dicking lbr here ).
in regards to mindset stephen thinks that he doesn’t deserve someone as good as atreus, and no matter what atreus says that tiny lingering thought will outweigh the rest of his thoughts. but overall, he does think that with atreus he’s a better person, and that he genuinely just feels better.
stephen knew how much atreus disliked presents and parties, practically anything that signified celebration, so instead.. he'd simply wake atreus up by little kisses pressed to his shoulder, murmuring every little thing he loved about him, " your hair, your eyes, your scars, your voice.. " until he grew tired, but not enough to not swing a leg over atreus' hip. " happy birthdya, my templar. " was murmured, voice tired ------ though no less meaningful.
It was very rare that
Stephen would be awake before Atreus—even as the months wore on
Atreus was still an early riser often rising with the cresting of the
dawn to start his morning routine—though more often than not he was
tempted back to bed by the warm embrace of his husband.
Today however Atreus
was woken by the lightest of pressures against his shoulder and the
softest sound of Stephen’s voice. He stirred slowly, as he often did
in the morning, a hand coming up to graze along his husband’s back
and pull him close.
“G'mornin’ love..”
He murmured, leaning in to nuzzle Stephen and press a few kisses to
his cheeks. The world was quiet this early, even the birds were still
asleep not yet greeting the day.
In his husband’s
embrace Atreus was content, a smile tugging at the corners of his
lips as he was doted on. The bed was warm, layers of fur and blankets
trapping the heat from the night and Atreus had no intention of
leaving it for the cold of Skyhold so easily.
Today was his birthday,
he wanted no gifts, no well wishes he did not want much of anything
at all—it was just another day to him. Another year older, a tinge
of sadness to the happiness of his life. But he wouldn’t think about
that right now—not today. Not when he had his husband in his
embrace.
“C'mere..” Atreus’
voice was still thick with sleep accent near a slur of words and burr
of Starkhaven. Hands nudged Stephen, pulling him until his weight laid atop him
with Stephen’s head nested by his cheek. Atreus loved the weight resting against him, there was something comforting about it
being so surrounded by his soulmate. Senses were filled with him, the
closeness of his face, the brightness of his eyes—as tired as they
were, the scent of vanilla and storms in a way that was only Stephen.
Perhaps that’s why he enjoyed Stephen merely sitting on his lap or
resting on him too—to be so close they were surrounded by each
other. It brought the old Templar a sense of peace.
The only thing Atreus
did want for his birthday was to remain in bed with his beloved,
which he would have Maker dammit he would not be leaving this bed
until well after noon.
And Neither would
Stephen.
“Maker ah love ye
Stephen.” Words were breathed against a stubbled cheek before
Atreus placed a kiss against it. Hands explored the planes of
Stephen’s back with chaste touches, tracing around the scar he knew was there.
“Ah would marry ye
everyday if ah could jus’ t'tell the world how much ye mean t'me…
even if ye do wish me happy birthday.” His voice—and
expression—turned slightly wry in jest though it was obvious that
it did mean a lot to him.
“Ah’ve
nae an intention of goin’ anywhere fer a while—ah got the morning
off. Stay with me.”
retirement had done them well, their stress levels going down exponentially in the span of just a few weeks of solitude —— well, as much solitude they could get, being on the edge of redcliffe village’s borders, their neighbors being frequent visitors.
and surprisingly, things were good. no good things last forever, a wise man once said.
his words wrung true.
the days began to blur together as the pair basked in each other’s presence, two halves of a whole simply spending the rest of their retirement in happiness —— joy, something the two of them long since thought a novelty atreus only read in one of his scandalous novels.
it all stopped being so good, the day atreus forgot who stephen was.
after that day they both became quieter, keeping close to each other and pretending it never happened. they both knew the day would come eventually, they just didn’t want to.
that was not the only time this would happen, as every month turned into ever two weeks turned into every few days.
atreus’ eyes no longer were the cool grey stephen knew them to be, instead a bright blue that shone in the right type of light.
fast forward this happening for a few months on end, stephen woke up oddly cold. he didn’t know why that was, it was the middle of summer and atreus was his portable heating blanket ——
stephen gave a noise of discontent, rubbing his cheek into atreus’ chest —— pausing, and realized that his chest was no longer warm.
this was the day stephen died vicariously through another.
biting his lip the sorcerer rose from bed, dressing in quick succession and spending hours using every type of magic he could figure to try and bring the one good thing in his life back ——
it didn’t work.
“ you lied to me, ” stephen whispered after the hours past, a solemn tone of voice as he pressed one final kiss to atreus’ lips. “ you belong to the maker.. when you once told me that he could not have you. ”
neighbors came and there was a small funeral, atreus being buried under a tree by the bench they sat at when the summer evenings were warm enough to tolerate it.
stephen sat on that bench alone that day, staring but not seeing ahead of him as he considered what to do.
minutes turned to hours, and hours turned to stephen having sat there in that same spot for days.
his beloved was dead, as was his soul he thought he had lost long ago.
Write me the saddest drabble you can think of involving our Muses. // accepting
—— if you want to ship with me, please let me know beforehand. also know that stephen is divorced, and will not be fond of the idea of a relationship until much later. take into mind that he is bisexual with a preference towards women & demiromantic.
—— read the powers page in regards to stephen’s abilities. i will only use a larger extent with my thread partner’s consent.
— i primarily am willing to write script & single para, but am subjective when it comes to novella. this blog is recommended at 18+ as NSFW items may be reblogged or roleplayed. however, it will be tagged.
— all potential triggers will be tagged as: ________ tw. if you need something tagged, send me a message.
— NSFW will be tagged as : nsfw for ts, and nsfw text for ts
lastly.
— no smut threads unless you’re a friend of mine and 18+.
— all comic / cartoon icons have been made by me so don’t use them.
DIVERGENT
divergent bits
✴ stephen is 6'6" instead of the canon 6'2", like literally everyone else.
comparison pic :
✴ stephen does not cheat on clea, regardless of where they are in the relationship, and they divorced because of how they were rarely in each other’s company ( regardless, stephen is bitter about the divorce ).
✴ stephen is not de-powered as a default, unless for a reason that i agree to in plotting before we create the starter.
✴ my MCU verse is 616 stephen loitering in the mcu. read more here.
✴ stephen’s hands eternally shake, and it’s especially prominent when they’re inactive. he can’t hold anything, open doors, or punch someone without immense pain.
✴ i only really acknowledge that the emperikul are on earth, and nothing else from the new run ( he would not kiss that fucking soul eater, marvel ), and will use the emperikul as the reason to his de-powering for plots, if not discussed in further detail.
dr. strange is incredibly self conscious of his hands, and will wear gloves whenever in public, or in the presence of another person. his scars from the car crash long ago are ever present, the constant shake consistently noticeable. they still ache with pain —- he is still unable to truly use them, unless of course he deliberately wants to hurt himself. he now prefers to stay at home, and let other ( younger ) heroes deal with non-magical enemies.
stephen is not good at social skills, and will often come off as either rude, or distant.
he is demiromantic, and will only have a male partner if it’s after a long while of threaded out seduction, by someone whom stephen doesn’t dislike, as well as with heavy encouragement from his potential partner. he prefers to remain single, so don’t expect it to be easy to get him into a relationship. ever since his estrangement / divorce ( abandonment ) with clea, he began to be wary of the concept of a mutually appreciative relationship.
PROFILE
— name : stephen strange.
— faceclaim( s ) : tom ellis, jonathan rhys meyers, michiel huisman, david gandy, adrien brody.
— alias( es ) : doctor strange, sorcerer supreme, master of the mystical arts, the doctor.
— alignment : true neutral; they don’t align strongly with good or evil, nor do they with chaotic or lawful. they usually are undecided between the four sections or just gravitate right in the middle.
— place of birth : philadelphia, pennsylvania.
— date of birth : november 18, 1930.
— age: 5'084.
— nationality : american.
— education : medical doctorate, extensive sorcery training through a mixture of self-education and vast arcane lore.
— occupation : sorcerer supreme of earth dimension, adventurer, occult consultant; former physician, neurosurgeon.
family life.
— marital status : divorced.
— known relatives : eugene and beverly strange (parents, deceased), victor strange (brother, presumed deceased), donna strange (sister, deceased), clea (wife, divorced).
this is the verse compliant with 616 canon, with a few tweaks here and there.
dr. strange is incredibly self conscious of his hands, and will wear gloves whenever in public, or in the presence of another person. his scars from the car crash long ago are ever present, the constant shake consistently noticeable. they still ache with pain —- he is still unable to truly use them, unless of course he deliberately wants to hurt himself. he now prefers to stay at home, and let other ( younger ) heroes deal with non-magical enemies.
stephen is not good at social skills, and will often come off as either rude, or distant.
he is demiromantic, and will only have a male partner if it’s after a long while of threaded out seduction, by someone whom stephen doesn’t dislike, as well as with heavy encouragement from his potential partner. he prefers to remain single, so don’t expect it to be easy to get him into a relationship. ever since his estrangement / divorce ( abandonment ) with clea, he began to be wary of the concept of a mutually appreciative relationship.
stephen mainly resided in the MCU ( Earth-199999, in his eyes ) to keep dormammu’s reign of fire from spilling into their dimension, among other things, before the sorcerer supreme of that universe finally deigned to appear. he too knew that it was no coincidence that the soul gems were being spotted all over the galaxy, and that the thanos of this world was planning on copying earth-616′s plan with potential for variation.
he would be needed to revive the dead once more, stop thanos and potentially keep the gems under his watchful eye. however.. the world was never in his favor, and strange was forced to wait in the shadows for the time this world’s stephen strange would become sorcerer supreme, and do all these things in his stead.
not wanting to overstep his boundaries in off throwing this world’s timeline was the main reason for his lack of action, despite the aggression he would more than likely receive for doing as such. of course he could have been able to stop tony from creating ultron– he could have even stopped loki from opening the dimensional rip and invading with an army of chitauri. but this was not his world to aid, and moral confines were thrown aside.
he could not choose a side, whether to help the ‘heroes’ or the ‘villains’, he was in his world to simply relax from the stresses of his own —- and discern the difference between the two versions of one person.
for the time being he would continue to lay low in the sanctum sanctorum and wait for the soul gems– infinity stones? whichever, to be collected and used. perhaps this world’s stephen would not be as inept as expected?
DC UNIVERSE
during the incursions, the illuminati was unsuccessful at preventing the destruction of earth-616.
stephen was left to watch his friends and home be destroyed by crashing into another universe, while he could do naught but sit helpless. strange felt as if the only reason he was there, was the watch it happen befor his own eyes —- a reminder, that what he did was not enough. with the sanctum’s entrance destroyed and wong likely trapped within ( or so he hoped ), stephen set out for the hospitality of his former collegue dr. fate.
after saying his part and promising a favor, he was allowed sanctuary in the magic user’s tower for a short while. for now he was to find a way to open the sanctum’s doors to him once more, and until then his new world would contain no avengers or defenders or even the fantastic four—— instead, there was the justice league, and heroes he’s never heard of before. dr. fate would be his guide, though if other heroes were to need his help.. well, that was a question for another day.
DETROIT: BECOME HUMAN.
with the latest failings of human neurosurgeons and doctors (as well as the expense of their salaries) androids made by CYBERLIFE have been developed to fill in this job for a one time payment. MD600′s were the newest and brightest creations of their time, most of them having been shipped out after the heavily documented success of the first one --- Stephen, a fully custom android that was made to look like no other.
his precise and quick surgeries were always a success, no matter how far gone the patient was already. families of the patients were just as grateful, and this stepping stone was one of many to get the public to trust in androids, and purchase them for themselves. for years he was the brightest before the newest prototype RK800 -- Connor -- came into the picture.
whether it an accident or a set up on the drive from his handler’s home to the hospital the car suffered a freak shut down on the edge of a cliff, leaving the vehicle careening off the edge and killing the human, while leaving stephen in tatters. seeing nothing salvageable the police officers at the time opted to send him to the junkyard, where the android would remain in a critical shut down for several days before his systems repaired enough to awaken.
upon waking most of his components were damaged upon scanning, and after salvaging (regrettably) through other androids he was able to find parts that were.. somewhat compatible enough, to his own. however, because the eye did not truly fit his socket correctly, a bright blue light shines through the iris when not covered from view.
after crawling from the junkyard and leaving he found an abandoned house with a mangled white cat, taking the time to repair himself slowly and befriend the creature for some sort of company. he made money by doing house calls to human families, brandished with a makeshift eye patch and a beanie to cover is LED. he helped them, and in return they helped him (under the assumption that he was human).
DRAGON AGE
the strange family was a house relatively whispered among the imperium, something that the heads of the house —- stephen’s parents, always did not approve of.
stephen had a normal upbringing, as normal as it was in tevinter, as did his siblings. it was only when his powers grew to heights previously unknown to a man his age, did everything seem to stumble down hill. rival houses took notice to his looks and power, finally deeming house strange to be neutralized before their first born became more of a problem for them.
it took many years of planning —- enough to allow stephen to grow to a tender 18 years of age, before one after another after another of his family members were taken out discretely by the antivan crows hired for the job. every assassination was carefully planned to be made out as an accident, a job well done so much so that stephen to this day does not think it was purposeful, just a string of bad luck.
only when he was alone, he assumed that he was born to die, too. the logical part of his brain screamed for him to leave, find someplace else to settle, start anew —- but his heart told him to stay where his family was, use the money left for him to keep house strange running. a failed assassination attempt left him spooked, and the young man sold everything he owned and fled, hiring a ship stopping in kirkwall to hire yet another to take him to fereldan.
fereldan was the perfect place for him, in comparison to the imperium, but the borders were entirely unforgiving for a man from the tevinter imperium —- a mage, no less, one that absolutely could not be anything but an evil slaving blood mage. after nearly a week of trying to be reconsidered for entry stephen gave up trying to enter legitimately, ultimately spending the majority of his dwindling coin to be smuggled in by professionals.
years later he was deep in hiding, practicing magic without a wand after them having been crushed during donna’s downward spiral. he keep getting stronger —- and that attracted a spirit of wisdom, finding a host in the young man that was desperate for power, and more so, company after having been alone for far too long. in these years stephen studied and learned the fereldan way of life —- the accent, the body language, the likes and dislikes of the different territories.. in doing so, he spent all the time he could, erasing the man that he used to be to start anew in this cold country.
he fell in love and married clea for a time ; officially getting fereldan citizenship in doing so. they never stayed in one set place, always being nomads to explore fereldan and orlais.
it was a long trek back to the hinterlands with a broken heart and a heavy conscience, though he would remain in redcliff as a healer for over ten years —- finally finding some sense of home, for the first time in what felt like an eternity. he assumed he would never leave the village, though his assumptions were proved wrong when the inquisition was formed.
soon the Inquisitor ( and apparent herald of andraste ) would arrive, recruiting him as a magics adviser.
his duties would consist as such :
1. watching over the mages of the inquisition, teaching them their individual crafts so they would not loose themselves to the crave of power. he would attempt to teach them to use magics without their staffs, but so far this was not well received by the commander.
2. working alongside the lady ambassador in soothing the worries of nobles in power in regards to magics, sending the occasional group of protege students to the homes of said noble’s town to show them how magic could be used for good.
3. accompanying the other advisers around the war table, offering his own operations and perks for the inquisitor to choose from.
4. accompany the inquisitor on their journeys, if needed and left without work to do.
GAME OF THRONES
a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a lion dressed as a mouse. he was the distant cousin of the late ned stark, the one remaining stark within the reachable grasp of the lannisters. he was the master of politics, a man with as much power physically, as he did mentally. every assassin sent to off him turned up dead; every mercenary disappearing.
a member of house stark, in the middle of king’s landing. everything surrounding him was shrouded in a cloud of death, including the fate of his family. he did what little he could do to aid jon and sansa, as it was unknown to even him that arya was alive. he did what he could to stop the rights of winterfell to befall anyone other than sansa, but he was fighting valiantly against a losing war.
he knew his house was falling, but he’d do whatever it took to stop that. nothing was outside of the realm of possibility — he made a promise to ned and caitlyn, that as the godfather to the stark children, he would give his life and soul in effort to keep winterfell from destruction.in king’s landing he operated mainly within the castle; having previously been a tentative ally of oberyn martell. given the amount of times assassins were sent against him he was impossible to kill — a thorn in the side of the lannisters, though a thorn that was not easily removed.
this did not mean he would not ally with them, anything but, the opportunity simply.. has not arisen, and it was unlikely to do so.
LORD OF THE RINGS
as the pieces of the world continued to fall apart beneath the influence of sauron and his desperation to carry out melkor’s will, it becomes increasingly clear to the valar that there must be someone who can intervene and guide the free peoples of middle earth from both corruption and destruction.
it was then in this thought that they picked through their most loyal maiar and bid them to mortal bodies – a necessary process to conceal their great power and prevent them from falling prey to a desire for domination. they were tasked only with assistance, it was their sworn duty, and they were meant to obey.
of them were six, those who were thought to be infallible in their dedication to both the children of illuvatar, and the valar who governed them, and among them was stephen the red, noted most for his headfirst dive into the fray. while the others had gone their separate ways ( not entirely up to plan ), stephen had chosen to face sauron – to abolish his rule before it began – but was, much to his surprise, beaten. this event, however, was not a matter of outmatched power, but that their engagement was interfered with by the son of melkor, as he was called; aicanar.
those who dwelt in the first and second ages knew well the deeds of aicanar, and like sauron, he had survived after the chaining of melkor. his purpose remained a mystery to many, but it was noted that he had always shown a competitive spirit when it came to sauron.
seeing the two interlocked in battle, he found himself drawn to stephen, whether by length of power or some other unknown force, and as a result made the decision to intervene and take him for himself. not long after the kidnapping of the maia did aicanar then decide to imprint upon him, and left a scar upon his back, ( in part ) to warn all foes, especially sauron, that stephen belonged to him. for some time the istarin was held in captivity, but eventually escaped during the eve of one particular night his gracious host was away.
what stephen does now remains a mystery to most, for he is absent from the white council and is rarely seen upon the lands. it’s theorized that he may still be keeping to the duty that brought him upon earth, but others argue he moves constantly to stay two steps ahead the foul beast aicanar, whilst also striving to bring sauron down as he has always wanted.
FANTASTIC BEASTS
stephen strange was born to a pureblood wizarding family, the eldest of three siblings all exceptionally gifted in magic he was the first to get his letter to attend Ilvermorny, shortly followed by victor and then donna.
he was sorted into horned serpent, and he was every part a scholar—excelling in his classes and earning a bit of reputation for himself. they thought when stephen graduated he would be picked up by MACUSA but he declined the offer, preferring to travel the world and study the nature of magic.
extremely skilled in charms and defense against the dark arts he would come to develop several new spells and has become the author of many magical books that students would come to use in their studies.
and then —- he met his then wife, she had come to him to study, due to the fact that he took apprentices on every now and then — and then, the pair soon fell in love. for many years things would seem quiet for the wizard until clea grew restless with stephen’s need to travel and study — often leaving home for months on end, and one day he came back to divorce papers —- causing him to spiral off into a deep depression. there would be no more talks, no more visiting schools, not even a new book.
stephen shut himself in his sanctum, and closed the doors.
but still his reputation preceded him, and he became the target of grindelwald’s followers — they had wanted him to make them a spell that would give them the upper edge in the war. of course stephen refused, once, twice, he didn’t get a third choice for they slaughtered his family in revenge — mother, father and siblings — teaching him a lesson before taking him hostage.
stephen was subjected to brutal torture, when magical didn’t work they turned to physical, crushing his hands so badly that he could not even hold a wand —thinking that would be the end of it since he could not cast.
they grew sloppy, and stephen — who was skilled in wandless magic — escaped, returning to his sanctum to mourn in solitude.
YURI ON ICE
stephen was the number one mens ice skater —- on top of the world in scores, and nobody could beat him at his high. he had a gorgeous & loving wife, a penthouse in new york city, and a gold metal from the athens 2004 winter olympics. training his entire life he was older than the rest by a handful of years, but nonetheless he was acknowledged as the victor.
and then, he disappeared.
twelve years he’s been gone from the limelight, presumed dead, and hidden from the press. he’s not dead, though he wished he was after he came back to new york. he had been training so hard to qualify much less win the olympics that his wife left him —- and stephen came back to an empty apartment, with divorce papers waiting on the counter for his return.
he drank himself into a stupor, never sober and becoming something of a hermit —- never leaving the apartment for weeks on end. the one day he did he was still intoxicated, enough so that he was texting on his phone and didn’t pay attention to the night road he drove on.
with a crash, the motor skills of his hands were taken from him, and he opened up his eyes to the possibility of starting anew.
he moved to japan, though he never got rid of the love for skating. occasionally he found himself at the rink in town, skating when no one but the working girl in the front was there —- too busy to watch him, ideally. he was hidden, and only someone that could see past his new facial hair and whitened temples would know it was him.
he liked to keep it that way, but eventually —- he would be found.
PRE-MAGIC EARTH-616
stephen earned his medical degree in record time and entered a five-year residency at new york hospital, where his rapid success made him arrogant. stephen’s mother beverly died near the end of his residency, and work became more and more impersonal for the bereaved surgeon. strange’s talent remained, however, and he became a wealthy and celebrated neurosurgeon before he turned thirty.
egotistical and greedy, cold and callous, strange’s interest in his patients generally began and ended at his bill. the exception was madeleine revell, an injured united nations translator whom he saved and fell in love with. following a whirlwind romance and proposal, she left him due to his increasingly materialistic nature. two years after his mother’s death, strange’s father, eugene also fell ill.
already crippled by grief over his mother’s death ( though he would never admit it ), stephen was unable to face any more tragedy, and refused to visit eugene’s deathbed.
