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Another week, another phone call, another package to pick up from O'Riley's Tea Shop. Those cloudy glass-green eyes smile with all the brightness she can muster as she passes the small cardboard box across the counter to Strange.
"This'n a special one, Doctor. Don't drink it too fast now, y'hear?"
The good Doctor smiles back at her with little parcel safely in scarred hands. "I wouldn't dream of it, young lady. Do you have time to brew me up a cup of the usual?"
The old woman nods and waves at him imperiously. "Of course, Doctor. Go take yer seat. I'll bring ya scones too. Ye always seem to attract some form of attention or another." A snort from Strange, but…it's a truthful thing. Thus, with back to the wall in his usual seat, he waits and watches out the ceiling-high panes of glass that line the outer wall of the tea shop. It's cooler for once, not so muggy, so he wears a polo in crimson plaid and khakis for once, though the dress shoes were apparently still a must. The golden chain about his neck hosts the bronze chit hidden beneath the shirt, present as always. He idly toys with the twine wrapped about the box, plucking it with one finger like some off-tuned string.
*
Strange people, indeed. The LAST time Maximus met Strange here, he was asking for a broken heart. He took some time off to heal up again. And now…he's back. He sways into the tea shop and moves to the counter to order from the old woman with his schmoozingest tone, "Are you sure you are old enough to work here, miss?" He glances to Strange with a glint in his steel eyes that says he knew Strange was coming. Spies must be everywhere! "Can I have those scones just slightly undercooked? I like the gooey middles, beautiful." He could not be more up to something.
*
Old Mrs. O'Riley does laugh, a little titter just this side of certain that the young man with the dark curly hair means her no harm and it's all in good fun.
"The Doctor's expectin' yah, hmm? O'course, lad, I'll make 'em a mite undercooked for ya. Go sit. Oh, what tea do yeh want then?" She folds her crabbed hands overtop one another on the counter and waits for his answer.
Strange, across the room, indulges in a nice two-fingered rub of one temple with eyes shut briefly when he's certain neither of the two people at the counter are looking at him. He councils himself to patience and when he's done sighing slowly from the bottom of his lungs, he's ready for whatever the Inhuman Prince wishes to address this time around.
Maybe.
*
"Oh, you had me so distracted that I forgot to tell you what tea. I like it sweet…rose tea, but sweet as it can be." Then Maximus actually pays for the tea, in a shocking turn of events, then moves towards Strange's table. "Well well WELL…fancy meeting YOU here…" Steel eyes rake over the man, looking for how his cloak is hiding today, in plain sight. He drops into the chair across from the man. "Soooo, you have been keeping very much to yourself. What have you been up to? Were you injured?"
*
Shocking indeed! Not on the Doctor's tab? Positively abnormal. Still, old Mrs. O'Riley hands Maximus back his change and then gets to working on putting the order together. The light clink of metal from the small fridge means the scones will arriving much sooner than later; the dough holds up just fine for a few hours, after all.
Strange gives his surprise visitor to his table a thin-lipped smile. "The mantle has kept me very busy as of late. The usual…nothing a little elbow-grease didn't solve. Yourself? It's been some time since we exchanged social nicities." He holds Maximus's eyes with his usual keen interest devoid of fear and yes, he'll play along with said social nicities.
*
"I have been saving individuals…and the world, such as it is. Very busy. Also busy being framed for things I did not do, which took some righting, but I have done so. Its not exactly an /official/ role, but I certainly consider myself to be the next Hero Supreme." Maximus twitters, feeling very pleased with his play on words. "I found out the most /interesting/ information the other day though, and I am so /very/ curious as to why you would have kept such a wonderful and personal detail to yourself, when I have long considered us to be friiieeenddss."
*
So very many points for Strange not rolling his eyes at that twist on his title. A simple minor quirk-up of brows while that half-lidded gaze doesn't change an iota.
A personal detail? Oh dear. Cue the brows up a little higher still and an animation coming to his settled partial-slouch in his chair. He centers his seat dead-on to Maximus with a quiet scuff on the tea shop floor and then aligns his spine before folding his hands away in his lap. Formidable formality on display? Absolutely.
"Friends don't play about the bushes, Maximus," he replies quietly, utterly serious. "Regale me." The last time the Inhuman heard him say this, they were fencing over another matter entirely.
*
"And friends don't steal other friends' pure enjoyment over knowing something they don't know." Sounds complicated. Max grins and waits a beat longer before saying with a dancing glint in his eyes, "I think Vic is your son. Your gay son. Who cooks and lives with his boyfriend in a decent enough apartment. I took him with me on a quest, did you know that?"
*
A few beats while Strange simply looks back at Maximus. Then comes the narrowing of those steel-blue eyes rapidly taking on a light violaceous hue about their pupils.
"I wasn't aware of this quest, no." There — the tacit acknowledgement that the relation between the two is a true thing.
*
"MMmhm. MMhmm. I suspected as much. It was a simple enough quest and of course I did not knooooow he was your son because I did not know you /had/ one. And I am also trying to figure out how Lorna is his Aunt." He frowns again. "Its very confusing and possibly incestual?" Max arches a brow and rubs one finger on the table.
*
Words are tricky things and it figures Strange might attempt to use them to his advantage here.
"Yes, he's my son. No, it's not incestual. It's not even technically mundane." The sudden arrival of old Mrs. O'Riley with tea and scones is a sure interruption. The baked good are indeed slightly underbaked, per Maximus's request, and she gives both men a friendly smile before moving back to the counter. Another couple has entered and they clearly need assistance in looking over the menu taped down there.
Taking up his cup of dark tea, Strange sips at it regardless of temperature and licks at his lips. "Lorna is his aunt…in a way."
*
Maximus waits until the old lady moves off a bit before he leans on the table, closer to Strange, "You have an entire family. I want to know how he's related to Lorna…I want to know about your family. You hid all of that. All I knew is that you were with Wanda. Not that she was old enough to have grown children."
*
Strange gives the Inhuman a truly chilly smile.
"Magic is the damndest thing, you know," he murmurs before blowing the steam from atop his tea. "It's complicated and spiteful at times, unpredictable at best unless tamed by a strong hand. I hide my family on purpose." Another mouthful and he meets Maximum's eyes again. "And I have no reason currently expand further on the topic."
*
Maximus wets his lips, "Are you trying to tell me that Vic is your magi-baby?" He deadpans and casts a dry look at Strange.
*
The Sorcerer snorts. "If that's the explanation that helps you sleep tonight, Maximus, then so be it. He is my son. I ask nothing else of him." He tilts up his chin ever so slightly, never dropping the shared gaze between them.
*
Maximus frowns a little and leans back in the chair. "Mmm…so…alright then, fine. You do ask me to be completely open with you, though. And its clear that you have no interest in returning that." He nods faintly. "But…we can still enjoy scones."
*
"Yes, we can," and that's one thing they can indeed both agree upon. Still, Strange adds, "It's a matter of safety. Surely you can appreciate that. I haven't heard tell of anything in regards to your brother other than he's the 'boring one', if my memory serves me correctly."
*
"My brother? I have not told you of my brother because I have known very little excepting that I have one. But, I am not going to get into a fight…not when my mood is otherwise…fantastic." Max grins. "I just wanted to hassle you a bit..and perhaps get you to share some."
*
Another faint snort and yes, this time there's an eyeroll. Strange appreciates the passersby beyond the windows, all dressed for the semi-cool weather that won't surely hold beyond next day's sunrise, but not for long. Another long sip of his tea and he sighs.
"I'm not looking to fight, Maximus. Vic is my son. I'm not certain what else there is to be shared. You've met him — seven hells, you even took him on some adventure." There's a good fatherly glower there. Oops, someone's going to be subjected to inquiry.
*
Maximus lifts his shoulders, "Its just interesting. I did not know you had a family. I do not try to wreck /families/…do you get my meaning? I thought you were just with Wanda, and that was all." He seems…apologetic in a way, but he also didn't know.
*
The Inhuman is weighed for a few long moments by the Doctor. A fingertip drags along the edge of his tea cup whilst the rest wrap about it, savoring warmth in joints and old nerves.
"I believe I get your meaning," he finally replies. "Wanda is my Consort. It was inevitable that a family would occur, in the end. I wasn't lying earlier when I mentioned that magic is a fickle thing. I certainly didn't expect a family…but…it is a blessing, in a way," he reneges while he glances back to the windows again. His face in profile takes on the light and it graces the patrician facade in passing.
*
Maximus smiles as Strange finally opens up a little bit. "Consort. Children. Its all great, for you. And you know, lately, things are going a bit great for me as well. I saved my brother's life, to start. He was slowly growing too powerful to control his own power. But that's about all the news there is on him. Other than that, he just sits in the cold doing nothing." Maximus crosses one foot over the other and presses against the ground, lifting the chair some on two legs.
*
Strange nods, eventually looking back to Maximus.
"He should be thankful you were there to offer what aid you did. Would that I had done the same." There's a thin-lipped smile, even more grimace than that, and the good Doctor sips at his tea and clears his throat and clams up again.
*
"Done the same for my brother? How could you have? Oh…oh…you mean…your own brother." Max's face falls from confusiong to serious. "I must assume…that you were…not the sorceror supreme at the time? I have the advantage ofbeing powered for this…trial. I'm sorry. I can only imagine." His hand splays out flat.
*
"My power is in the now, in the future. Dabbling with the past only brings pain." This is clear in brutal passing across his features and then Strange schools his expression to a mask of aloof presence. The Inhuman has seen this one before; there won't be a true smile again, instead a distance of deliberate miles between them despite the small tea table. "Be there for him, Maximus. Even it breaks your own goddamn heart, be there."