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[open] This is all we got now, scream until your heart stops

WHO: Stephanie Brown
WHERE: Various Outdoors
WHEN: After Take Two Part 1
OPEN TO: All
WARNINGS: None anticipated

The first thing Steph does when she gets home is take a long, hot shower. Definitely top priority. The second thing she does is head down into the bunker. She’s heard about people using the vending machine and nothing terrible seemed to happen as a result. She deserves a treat, she figures, and she knows exactly what power she wants.

She waits until she’s out in the open again to try it out, and isn’t disappointed. She’s small, yes, but whatever she is, she has wings.

HOUSES

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One of the advantages to being small is that you attract less attention. The same holds true for being a bird. As a robin she can glide into her friend’s houses, moving quickly and then staying still to be sure she wasn’t noticed. From there she has all sorts of fun options. She can perch on top of refrigerators, swoop down and startle someone, or steal food when they aren’t looking. A little more difficult is moving small objects around, but that’s just as fun.

Her favorite, though, is waiting until the person is distracted and landing in their hair. With hollow bones and proper timing they might never notice she’s there.

WOODS

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Being a bird isn't all sunshine and rainbows, of course, and not just because it's early March. Her first real, open-air flight comes to an inelegant end as, failing to out-maneuver a hawk, she changes suddenly back to human shape to foil the poor creature.

She falls with a yelp into the foliage below.

VILLAGES

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When she tires of flying and trolling her friends (which takes a good while, to be sure) Steph decides to wander around both villages, gaining an appreciation of what everything looks like when you're a small handful of inches tall. She also takes the opportunity to unnerve people as much as possible.

Getting some food from the inn? Did you notice that there's a bird on top of the fridge, or the ceiling lamp in the common area?

Sitting outside to soak up what sun there is? Don't look now, but a bird's joined you on the bench, and it looks like it's bird-watching too.

Or maybe you're just going about your business, in the dojo, one of the farms, even the library. Wherever you are, a small bird has taken great interest in your doings.

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It's just meant to be a walk with the dog, letting the pup range and have fun and chase after whatever he finds in the brush. Taking his time, laughing at the Australian Shepard rushes ahead. The fight above catches his gaze though, and as he's looking, suddenly there is a person there, plummeting to the Earth.

Whistling for the dog, he rushes to where she fell.

"Don't try movin," he calls. "Don't risk hurtin' yourself."

It definitely isn’t her cleanest landing. She slams several branches before she gets a grip on one, and gets scratched to hell in the process. Of course the branch breaks, and the second one she grabs pulls hard enough on her shoulders that she lets go of it. It’s about all she can manage to land on her feet, distributing enough force that when she falls onto her back she doesn’t break anything.

She lays there as instructed all the same.

"A little late for that, don’t you think?" she calls out as she waits for all her limbs to stop hurting.

It had been a long week, and as it was, there were a few things he had done before going home. First had been a trip by the hot springs to soak his injured leg in the hot water. The fight with the Wendigo had not been easy at all, and while he had Anne had managed in the end, that didn't mean they came back unharmed. Quite the opposite, with the long scratches down his leg that had made walking difficult after a while. But once the long soak was done he had gone home, and home was where he stayed, mostly sitting at his desk in the office he had made for himself, frowning in frustration at the papers before him. So much work to be done and he couldn't move around enough to manage it to his taste. At least, though, he had found some boxes by his door when he'd come in, and while it had taken some trips, he'd gotten them here onto the desk with him.

Which was better than working on plans that seemed utterly pointless when he considered the dangers he was now aware of outside of the villages.

But that wasn't here or there. What was here were the boxes he was focusing on, far away from the kitchen where he'd accidentally left a window open days ago. Not that he or either of his frequent visitors to the house had been around to check to have it closed. Oh well. Just meant a little feathered visitor could get in easier while Reeve pulled a beautiful red silk tie with a very subtle recurring cat motif worked into the material.

"Minerva bless. A suit," he coos, not noticing the bird alighting in his hair.

There were reasons he was out here, of course. First thing he'd done after coming back, before even a shower, was heading down into the bunker. Power just seemed like a logical next step. This had been the final straw on the back of the mythical camel ~~yes, mythical, they didn't exist on his world anymore, and hadn't in centuries~~, and so Nida had gone to get his own little soup up from the machine he had heard of. Indecision had held him there, so many choices that seemed right, but it was probably better not to go for too many at once. Get used to two, then get the other two he wanted.

Of course practice was needed, magic had never been his strong point and even if he had been handy with aero and tornado spells back home, that didn't mean he could handle the variations here as easily. So with that he had headed into the woods to practice while he waited for news that his other people were back at last, safe and ready for him to check in on them. Better not to waste the time, right?

He hears the noise before it really processes what is going on. Well, he hears a few noises. A pained, human noise, tree tops being disturbed, and the crack of a smaller branch giving as she fell. He moved before he thought, and it felt good to finally move properly again, with all the enhanced speed and stamina he'd lived his life with for years. He's quick off the mark, reacting up to proper scale with old reflexes, there below Steph to catch her just before the ground.

Sure, his arms sting for it, but he still smirks at the blonde in his arms. Not using a one-liner would be criminal here.

"Well, wasn't expecting you to drop in."

Or maybe the line itself was criminal.

Steph makes herself comfortable in her new nest, though she could wish it were longer and fluffier. From this position she can inspect the suit with a critical eye. Of course, the colors aren't quite right and that makes it very difficult to judge fashion. Still, she decides, the cat motif is pushing the envelope a little.

She gets a good grip in hair before letting out a single, disapproving peep.

If she had time between blows to take a breath her descent would have been accompanied by a chorus of "ow"s. Instead she gives a breathless, pained squeak as she comes to a sudden much softer stop than she was expecting.

She huffs up at her rescuer, blowing a bit of twig-tangled hair away in the process.

"I figured you might want to catch up."

Don't judge him, he's a cat person. And has a full other suit to evaluate later. But the noise gets him to look around, frowning. Where in the world could that have come from? He can't begin to imagine how a bird got into the house.

Now, if only he had a cat to deal with it.

Well now Nida is grinning. See, that was why he came to like Steph that second time they interacted.

"Ice to see you again, so to speak," he says, because he's pretty sure this is her. "What brings you down to my area? Not used to people falling all over me like this but I guess I can make time if you have a good reason."

It's not the birds, Reese. It's the pattern. Patterns on suits? Come on.

She manages to stay mostly in one place as he swings his head around, though it's harder to grip hair than she expected. She waits just long enough for him to go back to what he's doing before peeping again.

"How my heart melts," she retorts dryly. She tilts her head up to take a look at her downward route. Honestly, you can barely tell she was there. And yet, her whole body hurts from scratches and developing bruises, and her neck aches a little from the landing.

"I'll pretend you didn't just imply I'm not a great catch. And no, I'm not falling for you either. This was... an evasive maneuver. You could say I was winging it?"

Not on the suit, on the tie. Relax little birdy. The suit is a plane navy blue. And that's all it needs to be. But when he can't find the source of the sound he carefully folds the silk tie and sets it aside to instead inspect the suit. He'll need somewhere to hang it, but he is clearly happy to have it.

"Been a while since I've had a suit. Of course, it's not nearly as good as Lucifer's. Then again, his looked best off of him."

Reeve chuckles. Sorry, Steph, come in without him knowing you're there and you might get him musing about lovers.

"Hun, I'm spoken for, and he's someone I'm happier to sweep feet out from under," Nida smiles at her. Sorry, flirting with women isn't his thing. Not really.

Still, he's proud of the actual catch.

"Winging it away from what, Steph?"

And with that he makes as if to lower her. "I didn't hear you jumping through the trees, though."

Damn, Reese, get it! But also maybe don't talk to yourself so much?

Still, what would have been a huff comes out as a disappointed-sounding trill. Is everyone in this place getting some except for her? Then again, the one person she really wants to be with doesn't want to be with her. Really she just misses that extra bit of joy in her life.

For Steph flirting is just a basic mode of communication. She doesn't take it personally.

"Would you believe it if I said a hawk?"

She lets him set her down, wincing as her scrapes and bruises are aggravated. On her feet again she ignores the small forest in her hair in favor of running a hand over each arm, finding the worst scratches and bruises so she knows what to avoid.

"Hey, there's a thought," she says suddenly, and promptly pops out of existence and into bird shape.

Unfortunately, this does not achieve the desired effect. The biggest bits of tree litter fall to the ground, but the rest translates to very ruffled feathers, a large assortment of twigs and a tiny body still very sore and very scratched. At least the damage scales appropriately. She flaps her wings a few times to get her safely the three feet down to the forest floor then twitters her dismay.

Okay, now there is another noise, and Reeve sighs. Fine, he's got to find this bird. He pushes the chair back from his desk and then groans in pain as he stands. His hand goes to his leg to massage at it, which of course means leaning forward. Can you still hold on, birdie?

"Only if you look tasty for a bird to eat," Nida shrugs. And then... He's staring in shock at the little bird, shocked beyond shock at the change. That... What?

Slowly Nida moves to kneel on the ground near the bird, staring in a bit of horror.

"Steph? Is that you?"

Or was this an observer trick?

She can! She definitely can. She is definitely scrabbling to grab more hair. She can manage if she just flaps her wings a little-- No. No she cannot. She lets out a series of startled peeps as her grip finally slips and just barely manages to catch herself so she lands upright on the desk instead of tumbling beak over claws.

She does her best to shake the twigs out of her feathers, but it's a rather different issue for a bird than for a human. Really, she is incredibly physical uncomfortable. But she was as a human too, so this doesn't seem particularly worse.

Finally she gives up, looks straight at Nida's gigantic head and peeps.

What? All of this is a bit much. After the pain passes Reeve sits up and looks at the little mess tumbled over his desk. A bird? Poor little thing looks disoriented. Oh little thing.

"Oh dear me. How did you get in?" he asks, frowning at the bird. Better question. How would he get it out without it getting hurt? Especially with his leg as it is. After a moment of thought he slowly raises his device so he can type on it.

Steph, I was hoping to ask a favor when you return to town. It seems a little bird has gotten into my house and I'm injured. I cannot get it out on my own.

Well, there's a curious thing. She definitely isn't wearing a watch as a bird, but the watch still exists along with her clothes and weapons, presumably. Either way, she doesn't get the message. Instead she hops a spin so she's facing him and gives him her best impression of an imperious cheep in the limited vocal range of a robin.

Oh dear. A sassy little thing, but there's nothing he can do about it.

"I'm sorry little one, but you should likely find a way out the way you came in. I'd try to help, but I can't really walk well right now."

Wendigos are a bitch. But he's happy he survived.

She hops to the edge of the desk to take a look. Of course she can't see his injury, but she worries. She also isn't sure this desk will support her human weight or that she won't mess anything up, so she glides over to the door before changing.

Human again and on her feet, she frowns at her friend.

"What happened to your leg?"

That... doesn't seem very healthy for her. But he supposes he gets it now. She did say she was trying to get away from a hawk. So he sighs and holds his hand out above her and, with a flick of his wrist, a small breeze blows over her, trying to help get the rest of the dirt off of her.

"You could get hurt like that. No, don't say a peep, I know I can't stop you."

His eyes follow the movement of the bird and Reeve actually jerks away, just about flailing himself and his seat over in shock. He manages to keep just enough balance as he considers her. Interesting.

"Steph?" he asks, trying not to sound too disturbed. Is a bird that much more different from what happened with Vincent?

There is not supposed to be a bird in the library.

That may seem a bit hypocritical coming from someone who appears as out of place in the library as Maine. The space marine is seven-feet-tall and four hundred pounds of muscle; he looks like he should be bench-pressing bookshelves, not reading their contents. But here he is, reading away.

At least he was reading, until he noticed a bird sitting nearby.

Puzzled, the big man frowns and looks around to see if there's an open window nearby. Maybe he can shoo it back outside.

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[open] This is all we got now, scream until your heart stops

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