Really stubborn about being skilled at magic is like hearing an echo of himself, and it makes Strange crack a smile.
“Induction makes it sound like I’m bringing you into a cult. It’s just some paperwork and an initial consultation like I’m your GP.” He reaches for the stack, and slides Hermione a piece of paper: a quill and a single sheet, the questions neatly printed in handwriting not his own.
“Fill that out for me. I know some of it might not be very applicable since you’re so new — emergency contacts and such — but the more important part is getting it on-record if you have any existing medical issues, or any burial preferences. They typically do pyres here. Prevents demons possessing your corpse.”
"There is something vaguely cult-like about the Chantry, though," she points out with a small smile of her own, but takes the form without hesitation. "Though maybe all forms of organised religion are."
After a shrug, she casts her gaze over the form, a knot forming in her stomach. Emergency contact? Funeral rites of preference? God, she's going to die here. Assuming she hasn't already died, and this is just her soul manifesting into Thedas - but no, why would she have died, the war was over.
Deep breaths. Stephen Strange is being laissez-faire about the form, and therefore she must follow his example. Pure pragmatism now, mental breakdown later while in quarantine.
A bark of a laugh at the dig at organised religion, since Strange can sincerely relate: “They sure are. I’ve had to bite my tongue so many times, devotion is so much more prevalent here.”
He remains politely quiet while she works on the form. Sorry about the impending panic attack, Hermione; he’s truly not the most reassuring man, even if he tries.
“Yep. Feel free to stop by the infirmary to amend the details anytime.” He cranes his head to read the answers upside-down after she’s done. “… Time travel?”
There's the trick to get her panic attack to subside: engage her brain. Her gaze lifts to Stephen's and there's a flicker of a smile before she nods. "A few theories, while I was there, was that we kept moving through different ages. Maybe because so much of the culture and - frankly, the fashion and technology - of each place we stopped in for long enough kept being so different. Have you ever experienced that? In Thedas, for instance? One country will have steam-powered trains and electricity, and the clothes will look like something out of the 1920s, while others will look practically medieval."
She carries on without waiting for the answer, "There was time travel prior to that place, though. For about a year, in school, I had a Time Turner. It's a singular time travelling device, which when spun took you back in time for as many hours as you twisted the hourglass. I used it to attend all my classes, and before you comment on that, yes. I know it's demented, I have been informed before."
Another smile (two in the span of five minutes, congratulations Hermione). And perhaps Stephen Strange might be just as demented, because he says: “To the contrary, I was about to say I’d probably have done the same thing. I did my MD/PhD simultaneously. And when I first started my sorcery training, I used astral projection in my sleep so my spirit could keep studying while my physical body was unconscious, which I just saw as a colossal waste of time— but it sounds like you might actually have me beat on the multitasking front.”
For all her preexisting familiarity with him, he’s starting to feel that comfortable flicker in turn: encountering a kindred spirit, a fellow over-achiever. He leans back in his seat.
“Thedas is a little bit like that, but more due to isolationism and culture, as you mention, and particularly their attitudes toward magic. Without magic at all, dwarves have gone in on mechanical inventions and steam and their crafts are more technologically advanced than the rest. Tevinter, due to investing more in magic, has more enchanted marvels to make day-to-day life easier. The other nations lag a little behind, from what I can tell.”
Which might be a casually brutally judgmental way of putting it, but. She’s not from here, it’s fine.
“Where you were— They didn’t have a standardised calendar to tell you what age you were in?”
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no subject
“Induction makes it sound like I’m bringing you into a cult. It’s just some paperwork and an initial consultation like I’m your GP.” He reaches for the stack, and slides Hermione a piece of paper: a quill and a single sheet, the questions neatly printed in handwriting not his own.
“Fill that out for me. I know some of it might not be very applicable since you’re so new — emergency contacts and such — but the more important part is getting it on-record if you have any existing medical issues, or any burial preferences. They typically do pyres here. Prevents demons possessing your corpse.”
He sounds astoundingly laissez-faire about it.
no subject
After a shrug, she casts her gaze over the form, a knot forming in her stomach. Emergency contact? Funeral rites of preference? God, she's going to die here. Assuming she hasn't already died, and this is just her soul manifesting into Thedas - but no, why would she have died, the war was over.
Deep breaths. Stephen Strange is being laissez-faire about the form, and therefore she must follow his example. Pure pragmatism now, mental breakdown later while in quarantine.
"I'm assuming I'll have to refill this as it changes?" she asks, writing her quick answers already.
no subject
He remains politely quiet while she works on the form. Sorry about the impending panic attack, Hermione; he’s truly not the most reassuring man, even if he tries.
“Yep. Feel free to stop by the infirmary to amend the details anytime.” He cranes his head to read the answers upside-down after she’s done. “… Time travel?”
no subject
She carries on without waiting for the answer, "There was time travel prior to that place, though. For about a year, in school, I had a Time Turner. It's a singular time travelling device, which when spun took you back in time for as many hours as you twisted the hourglass. I used it to attend all my classes, and before you comment on that, yes. I know it's demented, I have been informed before."
no subject
For all her preexisting familiarity with him, he’s starting to feel that comfortable flicker in turn: encountering a kindred spirit, a fellow over-achiever. He leans back in his seat.
“Thedas is a little bit like that, but more due to isolationism and culture, as you mention, and particularly their attitudes toward magic. Without magic at all, dwarves have gone in on mechanical inventions and steam and their crafts are more technologically advanced than the rest. Tevinter, due to investing more in magic, has more enchanted marvels to make day-to-day life easier. The other nations lag a little behind, from what I can tell.”
Which might be a casually brutally judgmental way of putting it, but. She’s not from here, it’s fine.
“Where you were— They didn’t have a standardised calendar to tell you what age you were in?”