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

[spoileralert]

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

established cr

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

OTA

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

OTA

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.

Comments

Woods

[onesyllable]

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."

[spoileralert]

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.

[onesyllable]

"Someone always told me when I was thrown from a horse you don't keep moving," he admits, but he does chuckle at that. "You think you're broken or something? Think they've got doctors around this place," he points out, not that he's much of ones for doctors. Never has been.

Picking his way over towards her, but didn't make it before the pup did. A few month old Australian Shepard launching himself at her and checking in his own way to make sure she's okay.

[spoileralert]

"That’s reasonable," she admits from the ground. "If you break a rib moving around could puncture your lung."

Of course, then the dog attacks and she has to move around to keep it from licking her face. She turns her head and uses both hands trying to block the animal from every angle.

"I’m okay, I’m okay! Your slobber can’t be good for my scratches, you know!"

[onesyllable]

"Well don't go doing that!"

Of course, not as if she has a choice. Damn dog.

"Hey now! That's enough. Get away from there," he calls, moving to shoo the dog away. "Sorry 'bout that. He's barely old enough to take a piss without helping down the stairs. Still working on his manners," he admits, getting the pup to hurry off to explore something else.

"Where'd you go and fall from?" He asks, looking up at the tree and then moving to kneel down beside her. "Anywhere hurt?"

Houses

[plate_builder]

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.

[spoileralert]

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.

[plate_builder]

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.

[spoileralert]

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.

[plate_builder]

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.

Woods

[skyward_eyes]

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.

[spoileralert]

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."

[skyward_eyes]

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."

[spoileralert]

"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?"

[skyward_eyes]

"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."

library

[bloodbathing]

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.

[spoileralert]

The bird stares quite calmly back at him, as though waiting for him to get back to the book. The book isn't really that interesting. It's also very difficult to read from this angle, with this particular range of color vision. She's seeing a lot of color that humans can't.

[bloodbathing]

It's a little weird being stared at so calmly by a bird. Especially one that's so out of place. Maine doesn't even have any food that it might be attracted to. Besides, aren't birds supposed to be afraid of people? The hell is it looking at?

Maine eyes the bird for a moment, then he waves a big hand in a half-hearted attempt to shoo it towards a window.

[spoileralert]

She fluffs out, resettling her wings and feathers before settling down in a more comfortable seat. It’s kind of funny, most of the people she’s messed with try to talk to her, bird or not. If he’s gonna play charades this is going to be fun.

[bloodbathing]

Maine is a laconic individual even when faced with another person, much less a bird. He's not going to speak to it; he doesn't think it would understand, and it would be a waste of words. (As though there's some finite amount he can use.)

What the bird does get to see is a far more expressive face than Maine shows most. The usual stoicism he displays for strangers is absent, replaced by something torn between confusion and amusement.

It's a determined bird, he'll give it that.

With a little sigh, Maine pushes himself to his feet, abandoning his book as he walks to a window and opens it. Then he turns back, intending to circle around and usher the bird towards the open window.

Library

[clouded_heart]

With a book about herbs, one about furniture making and a third on basic woodworking stacked in a pile, maybe it isn't a surprise that the book Foggy's actually reading right now is a medical text. It's not a complete starter level, but it still fairly simple.

He looks up at the bird, smiling with a genuine fondness. "Hey... what are you? A robin? There's gotta be a book on birds around here somewhere."

[spoileralert]

She tilts her head curiously at him. She doesn't actually know what kind of bird she is, but a robin? That's be an antagonistic twist. She fluffs out her feathers and tries to get a good look at herself.

She... isn't actually sure if the colors she's seeing are the right ones. She's seeing some that she didn't know existed, so it's hard to say.

Giving up, she lets her feathers resettle before hopping on top of the book pile. She's had plenty of practical training, but she's curious what the medical text has to offer.

[clouded_heart]

"Oh. Hi. You're incredibly bold. I am... just going to speak in a soft tone of voice and get a decent look at you to try and work out what sort of bird you are, but you have a red breast, so I'm saying you're probably a type a robin."

The medical text he's currently reading is about suitable threads for stitches and making casts and splints for broken bones. The sort of thing someone with modern first aid training might be interested in if they didn't have access to any modern medical equipment.

[spoileralert]

Antagonistic twist it is, then. That kind of figures.

It takes a lot longer to get the hang of reading like this than she’d like, but after scanning the page she doesn’t find anything she doesn’t already know and have experience in. She gives a short, disappointed trill and hops down from the pile to get a look at the other titles.

He’s certainly got a good variety going. Does she know his name? No, she’s seen him around town but never attached a name to the face. Man, she needs to get out more.

their house. strolling in late here with starbucks.

[scathefires]

Jason's folded himself into the living room couch, absorbed with reading one of the scandalous romance novels he's borrowed from Natasha. It's apparently a pretty engrossing read, because he'd usually be observant enough to notice something like even a small bird landing to nest on top of his head. Instead, he continues steadily absorbing the words on page after page, maybe a little redder in the face than normal.

Good thing no one else is around to see him like this, right? That sure would be embarrassing.