Indefinate Hiatus

stephen gave a somewhat strained smile, hand gesturing towards his home as he silently walked towards his home. just as promised when the doors opened to his presence the both of them would be able to smell the— chicken soup? wong made for him upon his return. he’d been assisting the tony today, thinking that walking home would make his mind clear as he stretched his legs. the door would close behind them, and the halls of his home would adjust to lead them to the dining room.

wong would give him a questionable raise of his brow, but stephen merely sighed and shooed him out. wordlessly the sorcerer would gesture towards the already made soup, not exactly hungry after the day he’s been proving to have. leaning his hip against the wall he’d merely watch lani, eyes narrowed as his magics washed over her. a mutant, then.

“   when did your powers develop? they are.. unique.   ”

The moment the scent of food wafted towards her it made her stomach growl with hunger and a bit of colour came to gaunt cheeks as she scowled and looked towards the ground to hide her face. It would remain pointed down at her shoes as she followed the strange man by the sound of his steps, paying no attention to the house around her. If she did after all he’d probably accuse her of wanting to steal something.

The thought had crossed her mind, but right now the most important thing was food.

At his gesture she moved towards the soup although she’d barely got the spoon half way to her mouth when the man spoke.

The soup froze on the spoon, the bowl too, with an audible cracking sound and she pushed away from the table, spoon clattering from her hands as she tried to put as much distance between herself and the man as possible, knocking over the chair in her hurry to press herself up against the opposite wall.

stephen huffed at how she panicked— she was likely not from around this neighborhood, as his small part of new york was fairly used to his leisurely magics. at the question he quirked an eyebrow, gesturing towards the gothic victorian-esque house at the end of the street. 

“   i do not, but i am sure wong— my butler, of sorts— has some sort of soup waiting. mother hen, that one.   ”

what was he doing? he thought with a barely concealed huff, what he SHOULD be doing was directing her towards the nearest child services building or.. something, really. but.. right now she needed food and warmer clothes, he’d call them afterwards.

At the mention of sticky fingers she rubbed her gloved hands onto her jeans a few times before they were shoved into the pockets of her jacket—or what was left of them anyway. Her clothing was in as much as a state as she was, rips and tears, a huge chunk of one side of the jacket was torn, making that side essentially useless. Pale skin was lost under grime and dirt, caked on so much that it looked like she hadn’t really had much of a chance to bathe. It was pretty obvious she was living out on the street. 

Was she gonna trust this random geezer? I mean it wasn’t like she couldn’t defend herself. The rain glimmering against her coat frosted slightly, her breath coming out as a thin cloud of mist as she stepped towards him a little tentatively because the thought of food in her belly after a few days without it was too good a chance to pass up.

“I guess...”

stephen’s wallet was left at home, so he merely frowned when he felt the girl— minor? try to swipe it from an empty coat pocket. silently using his magics he’d create an invisibly umbrella above her as well, glancing her over with a curious eye. where were her parents? if she was picking pockets on the street.. either dead or assholes, he thought with a sigh. 

with this stephen tilted his head, eyes glancing towards the sanctum sanctorum only a few steps behind her. 

“I-I.. I’m fine.”

Oh she really knew how to pick them didn’t she? Okay she just needed to turn away now and walk away and that would be that. 

It was only after she got a few steps away when she turned because of the gnawing in her stomach. He didn’t have a wallet, maybe he kept his money elsewhere..