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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

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.

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"It is," Nida agrees, and he feels jealous of it. He hadn't noticed, but if he had, he would have gone for that without hesitation. "And you need to work on it a lot. And I'm saying that as a pilot."

She sticks her tongue out at him. She’d stand up, but she’s only just found a spot where nothing is poking at her tender spots.

"Me and gravity have a bit of a love-hate relationship. It hasn’t killed me yet! That was something totally different."

"I can see it hasn't killed you yet," Nida shakes his head as he smiles down at her. "But you've got to respect that it's there, Steph. Because sooner or later, it could kill you. Maybe, you know, land before you change in the future. Or don't fly near hawks. They like eating small, noisy things like you."

Is he talking about the bird or just Steph. Probably Steph.

She assumes he’s talking about her. She gives a dramatic harrumph.

"I’ll take it down with me if I have to," she declares, shaking her fist at the sky. "Gravity too. Just see if I don’t."

"Don't hurt the hawk," Nida protests, and he actually seems concerned. "Not if you can avoid it. The thing just wants to eat. You're the one upsetting the natural balance."

Poor hawk. The thing just wanted a meal. Hardly fair to it, to hurt it for its nature. "And you can't hurt gravity. Mathematically not possible. You're just too small."

He does reach out to offer her his hand. Stand up, Steph. He can take you back to town.

"And I’m just trying to survive. You can’t blame me for what happens if a hawk keeps trying to gnaw on a human." She takes the help, doing her best to look disdainful of the idea that she can’t hurt a law of nature.

"Thanks for the help, anyway. You saved me a few bruises."

"You weren't a human at the time," Nida counters. So it's not the hawk's fault. Sorry, they're his favorite animals back home and there isn't a lot of of animals in his world, not really. But he shrugs off her thank you.

"Helping people is what I was made for."

If only he was kidding.

"Lucky me," she responds with a touch of wistfulness.

"I was made for screwing up." Genetically predisposed, at least.

Ouch. That doesn't sound very good. Still... Nida shrugs it off.

"Somehow I'm not shocked. Your world sounds fucked up, and that's not just from what little you've told me. I've heard more from Jason. Frankly? I'm starting to think that all versions of Earth are about the worst place to be ever. This place wouldn't be that bad if it was predictable though."

He likes it here, he likes the people. And has just realized that he sort of needs Steph's permission to visit his other brother at his own house, so he really needs to get on Steph's good side. Beyond just puns.

"How's he doing? Do you know if he's back yet? And what did you have to fight? I had some giant, horned thing that... well, I have no word for it."

That makes her pause a moment. She knew they were friends, but... does Nida know where she lives? How many people do? She forgot, for a while, to work at keeping it secret. Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?

She shakes it off.

"Jason? Yeah, he’s back. He said something about some foxes, but he wasn’t badly hurt. I went up against the Yeti, who apparently lives on top of the mountain way west. Big dude, but mostly just frustrating. Like, there comes a point on the ‘massive’ scale where you’re trying to hurt a brick wall, you know?"

Huh. Mountain creature, big, frustrating? Sounds like something he's been through.

"Really ugly, squished face, LONG arms? Yeah, Hawke and I took one down too. Not that big but so damn hard to hit. Not that it was so bad when I could just let it hit me. Every time it did I got stronger, more durable. It was a less than wonderful thing to learn when it started."

He'd been worried he was going to get punched hard enough to shatter a rib, but instead his body had seemed to absorb the force. Still, he seems actively relieved to hear Jason is good too.

"That’s the one! A good six feet at least and built like a freakin gorilla. I’m all about taking down dudes twice my size but this thing felt like double that, or more." She shakes her head at the memory. What a beast.

"We’d have been totally screwed if I didn’t suddenly turn into an eagle for some reason. I’m so fricken pissed they took my knives away. I was working with sharp rocks and a big-ass stick."

"Gorilla?" Hm, that's probably an animal from her world. "It really wasn't all that big. Only about the size of a Wendigo from back home. Actually, hits a bit like one too. Still, was damn ugly."

Still, turning into an eagle? That's a bit weird. "Is that what inspired your bird form here?"

She shrugs.

"Maybe a little. I’d just looked at the options and ‘animal shape’ sounded like fun. It didn’t exactly ask which animal. Lucky I’d already learned to fly, though."

She runs her hands through her hair again. She still feels like there are twigs on her. Or maybe that’s just the scratches getting irritated and itchy. Who knows.

"You and I have very different definitions of ‘big’. I’m 5-foot-5, something like 120 lbs." Probably a good bit less, actually, given her eating habits these days. "My style is using the enemy’s weight against them, letting them underestimate me. A 6-foot ex-con I can handle no problem. One with lead bones? Not so easy."

"I'm only five-nine," he points out. Four more inches, a bit more poundage. No, what he thought of as big was different because of what he lived through. "I'm from a world with dragons, Steph. So far nothing here has really struck me as truly big."

But yeah, he gets it. Out here where there is no magic to strengthen you, no true weapons, things like that 'Yeti' are probably fearsome enough here.

Steph snickers, raises an eyebrow and compares their heights with one hand.

"Four inches? Barely noticeable. Not even worth mentioning. Are you sure it's not the other way around?"

"Might well be. Reality is what you make it here, shortie," he teases lightly. Yes, it's not the funniest line, but he's going to embrace it anyway. Humor is its own reward. Most of the time. Sometimes. Enough of the time for him to embrace it.

"You going to walk back to down or will you be flying?"

She snickers some more.

"What makes you think I’m going back at all? Nothing new is broken. I’m getting right back in the air."

"Then if you're bait that's your own fault," Nida laughs, shaking his head. Then he considers. Is thoughtful for a long moment.

"Maybe we can learn things together," he says after a moment, looking up at the trees. Sturdy branches. Yeah, he can do that. Easily. And practice his new magic. "If it's cool with you, I'll head up there, keep an eye on the skies, blow the hawk off course as best I can. For a bit. While you're testing your new wings."

Jason cares about her, and that means Steph is important without needing any more reason that that. The people he cares about are those he cares about too.

"Usually is," she retorts cheerily. If bad things keep happening to her it's her own fault, even if just by virtue of karma. So it's extra weird that the Overseers seem to like giving her good things.

"If you're gonna make a game of it you know I'm gonna wanna play."

"Then let's dance, little robin," Nida smiles. He plants his staff at the bottom of a tree. Then he backs up, takes a few running steps and uses that to push off of the tree to jump up and grab a sturdy branch. He moves as easily up the tree as any caped crusader would over an urban environment, up and up in the tree with confident ease until he was rather sturdily based near the top.

"Fly little one."

He settles himself on a branch, legs gripping around it for sturdiness, and he smiles. This will be fun.

Steph grins at the sight, then changes to bird form to break through the trees.

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

HOUSES

WOODS

VILLAGES

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good ftb point?

o7