"Beloved, would ye forgive an auld fool fer keepin' his distance? Though ah suppose ah dinnae deserve it."
seeing atreus was almost akin to seeing a ghost — a man whom he cared for deeply, disappearing with a blink of an eye, for months and what felt like years on end. his words were slightly muffled from the blood that rushed to the sorcerers head, stephen looking at atreus with eyes wide — something he didn’t often do, which showed genuine surprise from something entirely unexpected. blinking a few times in disbelief stephen took a hesitant step forward, before wrapping his arms tightly around atreus’ shoulders. face pressing into the side of a familiar neck the sorcerer breathed — visibly deflating and simply holding the other man’s shoulders, eyes closed as he began to remember everything they were together.
“ you don’t deserve it, yes, but i’ll let it slide.. just this once. ” while his voice did not match his words of forgiveness — it was more a warning, that were this were to happen again, the sorcerer would.. reconsider, his offer of forgiveness.
Atreus couldn’t help
the wide grin that spread across his face as Stephen picked up
Diamond and he quickly moved to his husband’s side.
“A very beautiful
cat, aye she is aren’t ye Diamond?” Atreus cooed, reaching
out to scratch under a white fluffy chin. Stephen could complain all
he wanted be Atreus knew that Stephen loved the cat, especially on
days he’d find him slumped over with Diamond asleep purring in his
lap.
“She’s never done
this before, she’s normally quite well behaved.” Atreus scritched
by Diamond’s ear, still cooing softly every now and then.
“Well at least we
know it’s nothin’ malicious in the Sanctum now.”
stephen sighed heavily when diamond continued to preen, enjoying the company that she obviously was trying to attain from her little stunt. running a hand over his face stephen sighed through his nose, removing his reading glasses so he could pinch the bridge of his nose.
he loved atreus and diamond, dearly, but by the vishanti they are both troublemakers when they want to be.
without much word stephen shooed off diamond with a wave of his hand, receiving a quiet meow in reply before he all but melted into atreus. his arms moved to wrap about his husband — before one came up, gripping the back of atreus’ hair in a loose hold. with this he moved atreus to look up at him, his lips all but hosting over atreus’ as he whispered,
“ you’re very lucky that i’m in a good mood, beloved. ”
Atreus tugged off one of his gloves with his teeth and ran his hand through the air, feeling the magic around it. It didn’t seem like the wards had waned around the artifacts—it was still as strong as ever Stephen’s magic, and Atreus could feel it prickling his skin and sitting heavily in the air.
“Ah dinnae think the wards have waned, at least in this room.” He said, shoving his glove in his pocket to keep sensing the magic in the air.
“Ah’ve found a few odd occurrences but, nothing like this. Mostly it’s been things moved around. An unwelcomed guest perhaps?”
THE THOUGHT OF an unwelcome guest residing within the sanctum warranted immediate concern, the sorcerer’s blue eye shining just a bit brighter from the use of his magics. wordlessly he scanned the vast halls of the sanctum sanctorum — an eyebrow raised when nothing save diamond appeared.. of which, appeared she was hiding behind another artifact.
immediately he moved towards her and used magics to pick her up, staring her in the eye and noticing the completely guiltless appearance.
vishanti’s name, why did he agree to get a cat again? she wasn’t even ashamed. “ or perhaps we have a blasted cat. ”
Atreus huffed, as if he was almost insulted by his husband’s insinuation, but none the less wrapped an arm around Stephen’s waist, slipping underneath the Cloak of Levitation to rest against his back.
“Ah did nae do it.” He said with a grumble. Okay so he’d broken his fair share of things within the Sanctum his mutation did.. kinda make magical things go a little haywire sometimes but he’d gotten far more control of it of late.
“Ah found it like this.”
WAIT — THE ARTIFACT was broken when atreus found it? that.. was wholly unusual, and warranted some slight concern. wordlessly he hummed in thought, right hand raising to gently run over his facial hair.
“ well, if that’s the case.. it seems like the wards surrounding either the artifacts themselves, or the sanctum are waning. granted, i did set them up several years ago.. ” that however, would be labor intensive and likely take at least a week.
A magical object lay in several pieces on the floor, scattered across the rug. Atreus was used to the strange—pardon the pun—happenings in the Sanctum Sanctorum even more so now that he had gained a better grasp of his abilities.
He was breaking things less, therefore finding something broken is never a good sign.
“Beloved.” Atreus called out, knowing that Stephen would know he was looking for him due to their magical bands. “We seem t’have.. an issue?”
UPON THE SOUND of atreus calling for him stephen sighed softly, quietly bookmarking his spot in his book of choice before he teleported beside atreus. wordlessly he leaned against him with a raised brow, staring at yet another magical artifact being broken.
with a heavy sigh (exhaustion lacing his tone) he’d use magic to pick up the pieces, and begin the process of piecing it back together.
“ the issue of you being a bit of a clutz as of late..? ”
Send me a pairing and a word and I’ll write you a five six sentence fic.
Stephen’s hands were scarred, marred with crisscrossed lines that still, to this day, filled him with aches and pains and regrets. They trembled in Atreus’ tender grip now, as the Scotsman peeled off his gloves and set them down upon the table beside them.
“Are ye okay, beloved?” Atreus questioned softly, bringing fingers to his lips to kiss each spindly line with care.
“I’m fine.” Stephen’s reply was clipped, brows furrowing slightly as he watched Atreus. Part of him hated that Atreus touched his hands with such care, he wanted them to remain unseen to the world—unseen even to him.
The other part however, secretly appreciated it for the man beside him to love even the broken parts of him like this.
waits for Stephen to turn his back to him and then wraps his arms around Stephen's waist, burying his head against the nape of Stephen's neck. Lips planted a few soft kisses. "Can ah stay like this, fer a while, love?"
AT A MOMENT’S notice stephen gave a soft huff of surprise, hands immediately going to rest atop atreus’ arms — automatically, he leaned into his weight. a light shudder ran down his spine at the attention to his neck, a sort of sensitive spot that atreus has managed to find, and never release the information of. vishanti’s name, he never did understood what he did to deserve such a.. doting, partner.
his voice rang with amusement, his eyes closing as he leaned a little of his weight back against his partner — husband, though the word was often difficult for him to believe, even himself. “ if you wish, beloved. ”
AND WHEN WAS atreus the one out of the two of them to protest something.. less than pure, in nature? ah — it was likely because of the fact that they were at some sort of stark foundation event that tony had all but dragged them to.. well, even so. taking his husband’s hand he wordlessly moved him to an empty balcony before all but pining him against the railing, magics surrounding the two of them so that they were both unseen, and muted to their surroundings. that of course might be known to him — but it was up for debate, whether or not atreus could tell which spell he used.
with this he pressed his lips to atreus’ in a heated surge, eyes closing as his hands moved to the other man’s hips. he was not about to let atreus’ earlier teasing to go unpunished, the two of them getting.. somewhere, before atreus CONVENIENTLY remembered the gala, and how they absolutely had to go right then and there, unable to wait five more bloody minutes.
now, he was going to show him why it was he did not tease the sorcerer — and leave him left wanting.
boops his nose. "if ye stare at that book any harder ah'm afraid it will ignite love. "
AFTER HAVING BEEN concentrating rather indulgently on his latest book stephen started slightly at his nose being poked — eyes widening considerably as he looked up and saw atreus. with a soft scoff the sorcerer rolled his eyes, using magics to create a bookmark and close his book, setting it off to the side for continuation at a later time.
wordless was he when he leaned back in his chair, quirking an eyebrow as he crossed his arms before his chest. “ and what would you suggest as another distraction, beloved? there’s naught else to do, hm..? ” wordlessly stephen let his knee fall to the side a touch, the sorcerer’s head tilting ever so slightly with a small smirk.
—— 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.