Arianna had barely knocked on the door before it opened. She smiled when she saw Doctor Strange on the other side of the door. "Doctor, I hope it's okay that I'm a little early. I thought it would be better to be early than late."
"Not a problem, Ms. Miller, please come in," he said as he opened the door wider and motioned her in.
As she stepped in a shorter, more stout man came out of the library office she had been in earlier.
"Wong, may I introduce you to Ms. Arianna Miller, she's our tech support from Stark Industries."
"Oh, so you do remember my first name? With your insistence on not using it, I thought perhaps you'd just forgotten," Arianna said with a smile. She was surprised to see the Doctor get a bit flustered and...was that even a bit of a blush in his cheeks?
"Ms. Miller, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm so glad you're here. Perhaps he'll finally get off my back about the wi-fi at Kamar-Taj. We should really have you look at the system here as well, it's slower than an ant swimming through honey."
Arianna raised an eyebrow. "Well, I'm not sure how slow an ant swims through honey, but it sounds sticky, and slow. We can always discuss that once we address the issues at Kamar-Taj, if the good Doctor wishes it."
"Did Stephen give you a tour of the Sanctum this afternoon?"
"We weren't exactly on a sightseeing trip, Wong," Stephen interrupted.
"No, he did not," Arianna said, smirking at the exchange between the two. She playfully looped her arm through his. "But I'd say it was a good thing I came early. Could you give me that tour, Wong?"
"It'd be my pleasure, Arianna."
"Oh, so it isn't forbidden to call women by their first name?" she said playfully glancing at the Doctor, who seemed somewhere between embarrassed and annoyed.
"No, just his hang up," Wong responded, playing along as he escorted her up the stairs. "I believe we have just enough time for me to show you the ancient relics stored here."
Arianna couldn't help but look back as they rounded the corner of the stairs to ascend further. Stephen stood there, at the bottom of the stairs, watching them. Their eyes met, and she smiled, hoping she hadn't gone too far in her banter with the Doctor.
Later, as Wong regaled her with a tale of one of the relics, a throat cleared behind them. "Sorry for interrupting, but it's time for us to head to Kamar-Taj, Ms. Miller—" He stopped himself. "Arianna."
She gave him a small smile. "Alright, let's get to work," she said, clapping her hands together and following him. She glanced back to Wong. "Wong, I hope we can finish the tour another time. Thank you!"
After she was sure they were out of earshot of Wong, Arianna caught up with Stephen and glanced up at him. "I apologize, sir, if I was too informal earlier. Technically I work for you right now, and it's not appropriate for me to be so personal in my banter. You, of course, can continue to refer to me formally, if you choose. I just mean, that's your place and your right, and I shouldn't push you to be informal with me."
Stephen stopped at the entrance to the library. "If you don't mind, I think I would prefer for us to consider each other on equal footing and not me as your superior, or employer, or boss, or whatever—I wasn't at all bothered by your banter, at least not in that way. I apologize for being so formal, it's just in my nature, particular since assuming this position."
"How long have you been in the position you're in?"
"I've been Protector of the New York Sanctum for only a few months. I've only been practicing the Mystical Arts for a short time—before that, I was a neurosurgeon. I was a—quick study."
Arianna smiled. "I was something of a quick study at my vocation as well. But I don't know that I'd consider us on equal footing when compared to your mystical powers."
"We'll see—once you start talking about techy things you'll see how fast my eyes glaze over and perhaps you might feel differently," he said, smiling back.
As they approached the center of the library, Stephen lifted his hands to begin summoning the portal, but stopped and turned back to her. "I really don't mind—calling you Arianna that is, but please don't be offended if when in the presence of some of the Masters and others in Kamar-Taj, if I refer to you formally."
"It isn't that I'm at all offended, Doctor. But thank you for letting me know."
With that, he felt ready and summoned the portal. He started to step through, and glanced back to see her staring through, once again wide-eyed. He smiled, one foot in Kamar-Taj and the other in New York, and held a hand out to her. "Perhaps a hand to hold would make you a bit more comfortable?"
She blinked and took a deep breath, reaching up and taking his hand and allowing herself to be tugged through. Once they were through, he closed the portal and looked back down at her. "I'm sorry, I know I promised, and I'm trying really hard not to freak out."
He smirked. "I'll give you a free pass since it's your first time going through a portal. Admittedly, I freaked out my first time as well. Let me know when you're done."
He waited patiently for her to take a moment to catch her breath. "Okay, okay I think I'm ready."
He nodded and waved his hand around the room. "Welcome to the Kamar-Taj library. This is where I first met Wong, actually, as he served as the librarian till coming to work with me in New York. He still spends much of his time here as well. We'll begin and end our tour here."
"So," she smiled. "Now I get a tour?"
"Mm hmm, you'll need to see the entirety of the compound so you know what you're getting into."
She nodded and he continued. The tour went through the residential area, the main temple, and into the sparring rooms, then out into the gardens and open sparring/learning area. When they ended back at the library, he stopped right in front of the dusty corner desk and held his hand out. "And this is the most ancient of items here, I believe," he smirked.
"Wow! That is ancient!" she chuckled as she sat down at the desk and turned on the computer.
"Perhaps you could recommend a new workstation? I'm usually the only one who uses it, but I do find it handy to be able to have access to current information, not just the ancient texts."
"Hmm, I have a few ideas. Let's deal with the wi-fi issue and then we can discuss. Do you have a map of the compound? Maybe even something with the current access points mapped out?"
Stephen gave her a wide-eyed look. "I can get you a diagram of the compound. But I'm fairly certain nothing exists in regards to the—what did you call them."
She grinned. "Access points. Those clunky things up in the ceiling that provide the wi-fi signal through the compound."
"Ah, yes—but no, I doubt we have anything like that."
She nodded. "Alright. You get me the map. Where can I work?"
"You can use the open table here in the library if that suits you?"
"Any idea where the router and modem are for the wifi?"
He gave her another deer-in-headlights look and she grinned. "Okay, I'll track it down. You just get me the map, Doc."
He went digging through a corner of the library and when he came back to the table her laptop and tablet were both already out and she had a stylus of some sort between her teeth. Her eyes lit up when she saw the rolled up parchment in his hand. She pulled the stylus out of her mouth. "The map?" He nodded and they rolled it out. "This will do fine. Just one moment—" He frowned as she climbed up onto the chair with her tablet and held it up, taking a picture of the map. "Now, let me just pull this up and—there, yes—I've scanned it in and digitized it. We can add more details if we need to later, but for now, the program will help me lay out the best possible layout for best wifi coverage. For now, I'll need to start tracing out the cable to find the router. Do I have free access to the compound or will you need to stay with me?"
He stared at her a split second before answering. "The other Masters know why you're here, so it shouldn't be a problem as long as you're not disturbing any of the activities going on throughout the compound. I'll be staying on site, however, till you're done."
"That's fine. Do you happen to have a ladder around here?" She glanced up a the ceiling. "Probably a 6ft one will do for all the areas I'll need to access."
"I'll see what I can do."