sixthiterationlogs | Without Wings, I Still Fly

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Without Wings, I Still Fly

WHO: Sam Wilson & Open
WHERE: Around the Village -- Cliff Walls
WHEN: March 19 - March 21
OPEN TO: Anyone
WARNINGS: Bugs (but only in one thread)
STATUS: Open

1. Discovering Abilities: March 19 AM
Sam didn't even want to know how the goat had gotten on top of the roof of the police station. Was it a mountain goat? It was possible? What did he really know about goats, anyway? The frustrating thing was that there didn't look to be a clear way to climb up there and get the goat. It was true that he could potentially wait the goat out, but with the recent bug epidemic, the previous lightning strikes, and other unpredictable disasters he just didn't trust the goat on his own.

No, he was going to have to find a way up there and this frustrated him to no end.

Sam rolled his shoulders, mentally preparing himself while simultaneously looking for a way up. There was no obvious clear way up to the roof, though maybe if he could run and jump he could get a grip on a ledge and climb. It wasn't like it was a tall building after all. Sam stood a few minutes longer, planning his trajectory, and then decided he was just wasting time.

"All right. Here we go," Sam took a few steps back and made a run at the building.

If you asked him later how he did it, he wouldn't be able to explain. He was running toward the building, and he knew he wasn't going to make it to the roof, probably not even going to make it up the side of the building. But, when he jumped, there was a tugging sensation. It was like something being released or unhooked from inside. He pushed off the ground and didn't even have to grab at the wall. He had jumped and somehow he'd arrived on the roof.

To verify, he looked over his shoulder and sure enough he was on the roof. The goat was watching him with interest, but otherwise hadn't moved from his spot on the roof. "What the hell just happened," he muttered.

2. Test Flight: March 19 PM - 21 AM
Sam had been thinking over his morning and he was fairly certain he had finally acquired one of those 'powers' that seemed to pop up from time to time. This was a new on though, as far as he could tell, and as far as he was concerned it was pretty appropriate. He didn't fell different, mind you, but there was no reason to pass this opportunity up.

So, Sam had made his way out to the edge of the village, not deep in the woods because he didn't know what might happen. If he got hurt he wanted to still be close enough that it wouldn't take days to find him. On the other hand, he also didn't want to be so close to the village that he might hurt others. He set a bag on the ground and looked around, it wasn't that he was afraid of others coming across him but he would rather have some time to himself--time to think and try out what this ability was exactly.

In the next few hours and even during the next day, Sam would come back to this spot. He would try jumping like he did before -- going higher and higher -- but never quite really flying. He would get good distance and height though. He would perch on tree branches that shouldn't have born his weight -- and also fall out of trees because this was new and he didn't know what he was doing.

In fact, it might be the sound of someone crashing to the forest floor that alerts you to check out the clearing. Although it depends on your timing whether or not you will get there to see him sprawled on the floor wincing and laughing or making another jump attempt.

3. Cliffs of Danger - March 21 PM
The cliffs loomed over him and Sam couldn't help but wonder if this was a really bad idea. He had only been testing the ability for a few days -- enough to get better at landing and manipulating the ability. However, that didn't mean he was an expert and it certainly didn't mean he was really ready to try this out. The cliffs were still mostly an unknown. No one had actually made it to the top and most of the attempts had ended in disaster. However, they hadn't had his ability. An ability, he reminded himself, that had been given to him out of the blue most likely by whoever was in charge of all of this. It could go out or something else could go wrong.

But...didn't he still have to risk it? Didn't he still need to find out if there was a way out up there and a way to get them all home? It had been nearly a year, and he was still determined for that to happen it seemed.

Sam took a few steps back, gauging the height and distance just as he had with the goat on the roof a few days ago. He wasn't going to just let these powers go to waste and always wonder if he could have found them a way. Sam took a running start and jumped. He was high --- several feet up the cliff wall. He grabbed a ledge and pushed off again, gravity only a distant memory. It was looking like such a clear shot, but of course things couldn't go as planned. He had forgot to account for one thing: the bugs.

He wasn't sure where they came from. Just one minute the sky was clear and the next there was a swarm of insects. They buzzed in the swarm, wings and legs brushing over his skin. Sam started to fall backwards, smacking at the bugs on him, but there were far too many to smack them all. He felt them bite him, pincers or stingers or whatever it was. It was all over his skin.

Sam was just lucky there was a tree there. He crashed into its branches, birds cawing and flying off as he snapped and broke branch after branch. If he hadn't hit the tree the fall probably would have killed him. Still the fall was hard and he landed rough on the ground. He groaned, everything hurt and he was burning up. Lights flickered above him as the firefly swarm started to dissipate. They flew off -- leaving him on the ground staring at them before blacking out entirely.

So much for that plan.

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Wanda was slowly adjusting to life in the small village. It helped that she had some of her friends from home with her. It was their influence that often pulled her from spending all day in her room. She was wearing black jeans she'd found and then a few pieces of clothing from her initial pack. Bit by bit she slowly began to feel more like herself despite the oddities of this world.

She was making her way to the inn when she saw the goat standing on the roof of one of the buildings. She's seen a few farm animals around the village though this was the first time she's seen one look so complacent on a roof. She paused in front of the police station, just in time to see Sam jump and then land safely next to the goat.

"Is this what you do in your free time?" She asked, a smirk tugging at her lips. Wanda didn't know what Sam spent most of his days doing. She'd see him in the afternoon or evenings but she didn't always ask about what he was up too.

Sam hadn't noticed Wanda at all. Not that it would have mattered, but he looked surprised when he heard her voice. He peered over the edge, not so much disturbed by the height as he was by how he got there in the first place. Had he blacked out or something? Surely he hadn't just leaped a building in a single bound.

He hesitated before replying. The goat hadn't stirred much since he'd gotten there and seemed even less interested in the conversation. Sam focused his attention back on Wanda on the ground, "Not exactly..."

Wanda was trying not to smile but it was very difficult with a goat and a confused Sam on the roof of the building. Her fingers rose to her lips though it did little to stifle the giggle that left her smile. She wasn't laughing at you Sam, she promised.

"Do you need help getting down?" Her powers were weakened but she was able to move things decently well. "Or getting the goat down?"

Actually, he probably should have thought the "getting down" part out a bit more. How had he been planning to do that prior to this strange turn of events exactly? Sam was usually a little more thoughtful about these things -- though maybe deep down he hadn't actually thought he'd get up to the roof.

"You can...take care of the goat. I'll get myself down. Not like this is my first time stuck on a roof," he replied. Sam peered over the edge, he wasn't sure what had happened--but maybe if he had an ability to get himself up on top, he could have a way to get down as well.

First, though, he wanted to make sure Wanda got the goat down safely.

Wanda wanted to know about the other times that Sam had gotten stuck on a roof but she kept the question to herself. She raised her hands in the air and gathered the rest mist around the goats legs. She was careful not to spook it though she held it firmly in case it decided to bolt.

She stepped forward before carefully resting the goat on the ground. At least with her powers she could be useful. Her chin tilted up to catch sight of Sam. "Is this goat yours?"

Clint had asked about farm animals and she assumed that Sam might know where they could get them.

As Wanda started to get the goat down, Sam started looking for a way to get down himself. He was starting to see how the goat might have done it -- goats had better footing for it, but he could definitely see some places in the side of the building that would allow for a grip.

It wasn't going to be fast, but he could manage it slowly. Sam lowered himself over the ledge, a part of him wanted to test this ability he'd just disovered -- but he didn't want to do something stupid like jump off a roof and then discover it was just a fluke. He couldn't afford broken bones here. Sam wished he had some chalk or something though because his fingers felt slick with sweat.

Sam crawled down about a foot before he slipped. The fall, however, wasn't what it shouldn't have been. Instead of an instant drop he somehow glided down -- floating like a leaf on the wind -- before gravity seemed to pay attention to him again and bring him back down to earth completely.

"Okay...yep...not a fluke. Definitely not a fluke," he muttered, tapping the ground with his toe. He frowned, directing his attention back to Wanda, "Hm? Yeah. Found it and caught it several months ago. For awhile we weren't sure if we were going to use him for food or not, but I think Peggy might have gotten a little attached."

With the goat’s hooves firmly on the ground, Wanda turned to watch Sam. She hadn’t known what she was expecting; maybe a certain amount of flailing as he lowered himself to the ground. What she didn’t expect was to see was her friend floating towards the earth only to suddenly drop the last few feet. Her eyebrows rose as she stepped towards him, her arms cross over her chest as if expecting something close to an explanation.

There was a bit of humor in her expression but it was buried beneath the concern that welled in her chest. It looked like it might be similar to the powers that she’s seen around, though she’s yet to hear about floating or jumping powers. It fit Sam surprisingly well and she wondered if those who bestowed the gift knew that.

"Are you okay?" She asked as she walked over to his side, holding out a hand if he needed help up. "I think you can milk a goat." The goat was still useful.

Wanda’s attention pulled back towards the roof top where she eyed the distance. "Is this new? Floating." She made sure that he knew exactly what she was talking about. This world was filled with too many strange things for her to be completely comfortable. There was no way of knowing what disaster they might face next.

He takes the offered hand. He could probably get himself up, but it would just be easier this way too and Sam wasn't so full of himself as to deny help. He was back on his feet and assessing his injuries. There were none -- thankfully -- so he nods. "Fine. Just shaken up, but not injuries," he says. Whether he's shaken up by his new found abilities or the fall itself, he's not specifying just yet. Probably because at this point it was a little of both.

"Too bad it's a male goat," Sam replies.

But enough about the goat. He looks down at his feet, frowning with thought, "First time I've noticed it." He's pretty sure that's something he wold have picked up on before now. "Sometimes these powers just spontaneously appear -- it's strange, but I've seen it happen to others often enough." Thor got fire once, Peggy had gotten both ice and truth detecting powers, and it had probably only been a matter of time before he'd acquire them and so here he was.

Wanda's eyes quickly assess Sam and when she's sure he's okay she dropped her hand. She hummed softly sounding a little bit skeptical. This wasn't the first time she'd seen powers give here but jumping and floating powers? It was all to strange.

She looked over at the goat. "So we just feed it?" That didn't make much sense to her.

"What happens when it turns off and you're up in the air?" Wanda can't help but worry. She thought about everything that could go wrong with this, perhaps because she felt her own abilities dwindling.

"Well. Best to keep it plump. You never know if food is going to run short someday or not," Sam said in a matter of fact tone. Sure, Peggy was attached, but even she would have to relent if it ever came to facing starvation.

He wasn't looking forward to that day, which is why the goat remained under "Emergency Food Ration" status only.

"No idea. Just realized I had it about five minutes ago."

Wanda’s attention had shifted from the poor goat to Sam. It was another case of strange powers and it left Wanda with an uncomfortable feeling writhing in her stomach. She didn’t like it though she didn’t have to for it to happen.

"Just don’t go breaking your neck." She threatened as if there was something Wanda could do to him if he did break his neck.

He smirked, "Oh come on. You know I've tackled bigger heights than that."

But he grew serious, because he knew this was different and they didn't have the same luxuries as back home. "I'll play it safe. I promise," he replied, not wanting Wanda to worry.

He turned his attention back to the pest of a goat, "So...wanna help me get this thing back in the police station?"

She tried to hide her smile. "That's true."

There had been safety precautions when they went on missions back home, they all had someone watching their backs. Here, they were alone. She was happy to hear that he'd be careful.

"Yeah." Wanda didn't know how far she could push her powers but it was one goat. She extended her fingers towards it. A red mist appeared from her fingertips shifting on the currents in the air as it moved towards the goat. It wrapped around the goats head and without much effort it walked towards the police station door.

It took a lot more effort than Wanda was used too. She was much better at moving objects in this place.

"I see you're well recuperated," is her comment when all of a sudden, Sam Wilson comes crashing down in front of her, giving her a heart attack (or at least a moment when her heart certainly skips a beat). She hadn't even seen where he'd come from and suddenly he's lying sprawled in front of her, making Peggy abandon the lure she'd been working on to hurry to his side in order to check on him.

Shaking her head, she wishes she were standing to press her hands to her hips and show him just how little she thinks of such behaviour, but a firm glare is going to have to do it for her. "What on earth?" she wonders.

Sam was groaning, but there was still a grin on his face. How could he not? Sure, this was probably another little "gift" from their captors, but it was one he was enjoying a lot to say the least. He didn't see Peggy, his eyes currently taking in the sky above and the trees stretching towards them. He heard her well enough though and did his best to sit up so he could see her better.

From her tone she had only caught him on the descent -- or maybe crash was a better term -- and hadn't seen him leaping up to the taller branches in the trees above him. He chuckled, "Yeah. Sorry about that." He picked a twig out from behind his ear, tossing it aside, "It looks like you were right though...getting an ability was only a matter of time around here..." He looks at her expectantly, waiting to see if she'd take his meaning.

She's not quite so delighted as Sam appears to be, mainly because what he's doing appears to be quite dangerous and Peggy feels as if she has better respect for her body (it's a lie, but her hypocrisy allows her to believe it, for at least a moment). She eyes him and reaches forward to get another twig from where it's taking root at his collar, shaking it aside as she shakes her head at him, honestly not surprised.

"I'm sorry, what ability is this?" she asks. "Hitting the ground terribly hard? Potentially breaking your legs?"

"Nah. I can soften my fall so it doesn't do that. I mean, you do realize I jumped out of planes all the time. You sort of get trained in how NOT to break your legs when you land," Sam replied coyly. Which, didn't mean he was unbreakable -- just that it was less likely to happen.

Besides, he was starting to get the hang of it and while he couldn't quite fly persay, he was pretty good at getting the power to work in such a way that he landed like you might if you fell on the moon or something.

"I think...I can change how gravity effects things. I already ruled out that it's not flying---and I have more control than if it was just my ability to jump was increased. I can make the landings softer too."

"I've worked with paratroopers, I know perfectly well, but they usually have a parachute affixed to their backs," is Peggy's sharp retort, starting to feel a little more relieved when it appears that Sam is in fine shape, sighing out that relief as she settles her hands on her hips to study him.

"I don't understand," she says frankly, "so you can impact the gravity around you? Can you do it with your hands? Make something float?" she suggests.

Right. Peggy's sharp tone was starting to make him feel a little guilty for probably scaring her so badly. This was usually what Steve would do. Sam wasn't usually so reckless, but he also didn't usually have superpowers. "Sorry Peggy," he said, "I really didn't mean to worry you. I think it went to my head a little."

He considered, "I haven't tried using it on anyone else. I just know I can impact the gravity for myself."

The apology goes a long way to making her soften, taking in a sharp breath to remind herself that this isn't the first time she's dealt with a man being curious about his new abilities, but at least this isn't ending with Peggy shooting bullets at him. "The last thing I need to worry about is you dying because you broke your legs and they're infected," is what she says, but she does feel better.

"Have you tried it near the canyons?" she demands suddenly. "Can you clear them to get out of here?"

"Point taken," Sam admitted. He obviously didn't want that either so he wasn't going to argue the point much. He was back on his feet now and trying to resist the urge to start jumping again. Sam had never felt this light on his feet before and the feeling was pretty exhilarating.

At her question he stopped, "Not yet. I was wanting to see what might limits might be." He smirked at her, "Wanna make sure I don't kill myself trying to scale a cliff. We've already seen that the canyon can be pretty steep and we've also already seen that these powers don't really last." He didn't want to start jumping and then be stuck or the power cut out at the wrong time. He might have been acting stupid jumping around the woods like that--but at least with the woods he had soft bushes or familiar territory to fall back to.

She's already itching to go and find out, but he's right in that they ought to take a breath and temper the moment, but she's eager to go right this second. Instead, she gives a nod of her head and allows for him to set the pace (even if she wants to argue, desperately). "No, they don't," she agrees, as she isn't detecting lies or freezing anyone.

"Would you like some help assessing them? My day is free, for you," she promises. "Not to mention, I'd like to see what you can do."

Well, he'd helped her test her abilities, however temporary, so it only seemed right to include her. He nodded, "Sure. You've had a little more experience with the abilities we get here than I have. Between the two of us we should be able to come up with a sensible plan."

Sam liked to try and remain as optimistic about this stuff as possible. It was hard, but he had to at leas try, even after all time. "Besides, don't have to ask me twice to show off. This is actually kind of fun."

"Go on, then," Peggy says, rolling her eyes in the same way that she often felt she did around Howard - an impatience tempered with fondness - because she knows all too well how much men can often like to show off, especially when they feel they have something shiny. "Why don't you show me what you can do, I'll act suitably impressed," she assures him.

Sam feels his is pretty warranted. After all, having a jet pack and tech wings was one thing. Having an ability that put him pretty close to flying and, if nothing else, made him feel light as a feather was an entirely OTHER thing. He couldn't wait to explore the possibilities of it -- even if it was only temporary.

At her assurance, Sam steps away and starts scanning the tree line again. He's looking for places to jump to -- he can only get so much height -- and if nothing else he has a talent for finding those places thanks to his prior training. When he sees a clear way up, he jumps and his jump takes him far higher than should be possible.

Peggy raises her brow with the curiosity she feels is due. She knows that she's acting quite put upon and annoyed, but the truth is that it really is a wondrous thing that she can't explain and it seems Sam is already well on his way to mastering it and controlling it, something that she doesn't think she could claim to do.

After all, she had quite the time mastering her ice abilities just enough to not end up freezing everything around her. "Can you see anything, up there?" she shouts at him, cupping her palms around her mouth.

Sam perches on the branch like the bird he's named for. He had no problem with heights of course, not after all this time. He feels good up here, better than he's felt in awhile. He looks back down towards Peggy, shouting back, "Trees. The canyon walls. Not much you probably couldn't guess at."

Certainly nothing interesting, aside from maybe himself.

"Nothing above the canyon?" That's what she wants to know. "Nothing beyond it?" She hadn't considered the notion of a geographical feature that stretches so far that the eye can't see it, even from such a height. The trouble is that she doesn't know of a place like that, at least, not outside of some particularly desolate ranges, and none of them had 19th century villages in them, as far as she was aware.

Why does nothing in this bloody place make sense is what she wants to know? Why can't something just be easy?

Sam shakes his head, though he doesn't know if Peggy can see it from the ground or not. He looks back down, "Not that I'd be able to see from this angle. We'd still have to get higher." It's times like this that he really misses his wings. It was just so useful and would have solved a hell of a lot of problems around here.

"And unfortunately these powers seem more about allowing for high jumps and light falls -- not exactly flying," he adds. He could possibly try to jump even higher from his perch on the tree, but he wasn't sure he was willing to risk it.

Higher? How can they possibly go higher without the technology? Peggy's frustrations are beginning to mount again and that will do no one any good, so she has to talk herself down, attempting to calm herself before she can grow snappish with Sam. She wonders if the jumping is restricted as well, but it does seem like he could probably do a great deal if they were to go to the canyon.

"We need ledges," she says to herself, but shakes the idea. "You're sure you feel safe?" she calls up to him. "You'd best not fall suddenly, Sam!"

Sam can practically feel the disappointment from up here. He knows it isn't his fault, but it does elicit from fresh frustrations of his own. If only he could actually fly---wouldn't THAT be nice. But things never work out that easily and Sam is beginning to understand how Buzz Lightyear might have felt in Toy Story.

"Yeah. But I'm going to come back down. If I wait too long the power starts to lose its effectiveness and it makes it harder to land," he calls back, pulling himself from his mini-pity party.

A second later he's drifting back to the ground like a leaf on the wind. He can control the speed of his descent thanks to, as best he can guess, a manipulation of gravity. The reason he'd been falling before is he'd been pushing his limits on how long he could remain in the air, but now he is able to land without completely crashing.

Peggy's grateful that he's going to come back down. She can't help thinking that something is going to go awfully wrong and her worry is that it happens when he's up there in the sky. Still, as she watches him descend, he does seem to have it all under control, which is more than she can say for her panicked, erratic heartbeat.

Once he's back on firm ground, she wonders what on earth this place is doing to them. "How do you suppose we get these abilities? Do they mean something? Have you harboured a desire to fly, ever?"

He flashes her a reassuring smile. He can tell by the look on her face that she's still worried, but he doesn't think she should be.

As for the abilities' origins, Sam's been wondering THAT for awhile now. He's kept a log, so he'd have to look over his notes. But, he's read over them enough that he has parts memories, "Not sure. There's no pattern to who gets them or when. Some people have exhibited similar abilities to one another -- like we had a few reported cases of people wielding fire. It could be anything from the food to the water to something they're slipping us just like the gifts that arrive. The only problem is that if it was food or water you would think there would be more occurrences of it." The feasts were spread out enough, but this was Sam's first time with an ability despite being here for nearly a year now. Peggy had exhibited two abilities in the time he'd known her and some of the others were at one or two, and many of them had arrived after Sam had.

As for her second question, "I was Air Force and I had a proto-type flight suit I used to help the Avengers. So...it is strangely fitting I guess."

"I just can't understand why," is what Peggy says, because that's what gets her at the end of the day. "Why would anyone care for me to have the ability to detect lies or wield icy powers? Why would they want you to be able to soar to such heights and control the descent. What I keep going back to," she says, "is not pleasant."

"The only thing I can truly figure is that perhaps we're guinea pigs," she says. "That there's some sort of testing happening and we're the control subjects in a controlled environment." It's yet another theory to stack up with the rest, all sitting on a board until she can prove one of them to be happening.

Sam stretches and then leans against one of the trees. He listens, but he doesn't look happy about it. Not because he thinks she's wrong, but because he thinks she's right. "Yeah...I'd sort of reached the same conclusion. It all has felt like some kind of experiment for some time. You could even argue sending random gifts, random feasts, and even some of the things like the earthquakes and storms are part of the test as well. I just wish we could figure out why they were testing these things and why we were selected."

That's the part that scares Peggy, just a little. "If someone has the power to reach across time and the universe and select us, it implies that there was a selection process before. And yet, people vanish," she says, not understanding that part. "Were they successful in their experiments? Or the opposite." The one thing she keeps telling herself is that the lack of bodies should bode well.

"What's worse is when I catch myself being happy," she admits. "I should be upset or angry. We're in a prison, after all, yet, I've made friends here I never would have had at home. People come back to me, even if they've already left again."

"There's a reason we don't have meetings about this stuff anymore...all we're going to accomplish is talking ourselves into circles," Sam adds. He gets where Peggy is coming from and he's had plenty of similar thoughts. However, it always leads to no where. "We just don't have enough of the puzzle pieces yet," he says, the thought occurring to him as he says it aloud.

He nods, feeling much the same way. Sometimes he honestly feels guilty or conflicted about those moments of happiness. "There's a bright side to everything I guess...that or you can look at it as human beings just are naturally that adaptable to whatever conditions they are in." He knew Peggy had been a part of the war effort, she had to understand it from that side as well. Even soldiers in the heart of enemy territory found some way to cope, some way to get through it. There were bad days, way more than good, but still you survived.

"I don't know if we ever will, when it feels like they're being stolen from under our nose," she complains, pinning her hands to her hips in irritation at this village, though not at Sam. "I suppose the good of it here is that while it's dangerous, it's not the sort of dangerous that keeps me up at night. I have allies, friends, I'm not starving," she lists. "It just feels as if I've put things on hold because I keep expecting to go home at some point."

After all, would she be acting the same way if she were in Los Angeles, still? She doesn't think so. "Now, look at you," she says, shaking her head. "Able to leap over buildings and canyons. Lucky we don't have an Olympics here, you'd clean up."

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Without Wings, I Still Fly

1. Discovering Abilities: March 19 AM

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Test Flight

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