wingedman: (40)
sam wilson ([personal profile] wingedman) wrote in [community profile] riverviewlogs2017-04-24 08:10 pm

(no subject)

who: Sam & others
what: late April/early May catch-all
when: see above
where: around the city
warnings: none yet, will edit if applicable

Getting superpowers is the last thing Sam expects, but early one morning, he's woken up not by a noise, but by a feeling in his mind. (And, okay, by the sound of wings beating against his window.) Outside is the largest damn bird he's ever seen, a white gyrfalcon easily the size of a hawk. It cocks its head, looking quizzically at him before hopping in through the open window.

:You.:

Yep, Sam definitely hears that in his head. And while he knows the other Sam has a psychic bird, he's never shown the first sign of any sort of a rapport with his feathered friends. "Me?"

:Everything else, quiet. I hear you, come find bondmate. Strange place, not-home, need mind-friend to hunt with.: Images come along with the words, images and feelings - the confusion of being in a city, a familiarity with wilds and deep forests, the desire for someone to share his mind with.

(Does everything talk around here? Sam wonders for a moment.)

"Do you have a name?"

:Name? Hatched outside the Vale, never had a name.:

He thinks about calling him Redwing, but that would just be confusing, not to mention inaccurate. "Right. Well, we'll have to think about that, then." Not that he has any idea what to name a talking bird. Or how to feed him - although he's probably capable of hunting for himself. Sam's seen enough wildlife here, not to mention past the Perimeter, that it's pretty safe to assume there's plenty of food for a bird. (Maybe he can ask Bucky to bring in some smaller game.)

Right now, Sam just sinks back in bed with a sigh. He really doesn't know how to cope with this kind of thing.

--

open prompts:

i
It's early in the morning, and instead of jogging, Sam finds himself at one of the city's open markets. The bird (still unnamed) can hunt for himself, but he likes to have meat around for him, just in case. And he knows damn well he can't just go to a butcher's and buy it; it's got to be fresh. Which is why he's got a couple of packages under one arm; one of them happens to be leaking animal blood through the white paper and onto the sidewalk as he heads back home.

Sam pauses at a stall with fresh baked goods - he's not passing up the opportunity for cooking ingredients, either - and leans in to look at some pastries. "What do you think?" He asks the opinion of a fellow shopper; maybe they've tried the food before, or maybe they've got a thing for pastries. It never hurts to get a second opinion.

ii
Sam's alone in the gym - or so he thinks - when he tugs off his tank top and lets a pair of wings slide out of his back. There's a metal frame at the top of the wings, made from a light alloy; the wings themselves appear to be made of light, a rich, transparent ruby red. Sam's not flying with them at the moment; instead, he continues his sparring routine. It's important to get a feel for them even on the ground, to know how having them extended affects his combat - same way he'd practiced with the jetpack. (Which he hasn't abandoned completely; the harness is in a corner, and the discarded tank top appears to be sweaty enough that it should be obvious that he's worked out with the extra weight on his back, too.)

He hears a noise and swivels on the balls of his feet mid-strike, and the wings fold into his back again. "Sorry, I thought I was alone in here."

[ooc: Character-specific closed starters to come in the comments! In case you're curious, Sam has acquired a Tayledras bondbird (basically a psychic bird) and bird telepathy, plus a nifty new pair of bionic wings.

I'm also totally open to firefly prompts, but would like to discuss them first! Drop me a pm or a plurk if you're interested.]
suckstobestrange: (I ain't lookin' for much)

[personal profile] suckstobestrange 2017-04-25 11:02 pm (UTC)(link)
He wasn't privy to the communication- but the bird certainly looked annoyed at the question which just earned a faint chuckle from Stephen as he settled hands on his hips with a lift of a brow.

But then Sam was continuing so he withheld any commentary, attention shifting more to him at the moment.

"It sounds to me like whatever this is, it's not him, but you. I mean, if it was just your new friend here who was the source of it, you wouldn't be feeling all those other birds, right?" Usually anyways. It made sense to him, anyways.
suckstobestrange: (on the seventh day you can lay)

[personal profile] suckstobestrange 2017-04-26 03:39 am (UTC)(link)
"Not a normal falcon, but for all we know this could be a native species or something." He's not a bird aficionado like some he knows, but he's been around long enough to see the general gamut. "I'm getting a bead on something. Not enough to say for sure if you're the source or he is, or if it's a spell of some form, but there's magic of some sort in the mix."

Not that it helped much, but it was more information than Sam had started with.

"English? Hm. Might just be how the link works; translating bird thoughts into a form that you can understand. I imagine if you were to see what he was getting from you it'd be the reverse."
suckstobestrange: (spirits in my head and they won't go)

[personal profile] suckstobestrange 2017-04-26 07:08 am (UTC)(link)
"Well I think you'll have to ask him to be sure if he's local or not. I'm not sure how specific he'll know to get, but if you're creative with your questions you can probably get him to give you enough imagery to get a general area map."

Stephen is totally understanding that problem, going from 'Muggle' to 'Magic' isn't the easiest switch to make. But Sam is... a friend? Companion? Something like that, which meant that he'd certainly try and help.

"I take it you haven't mastered the return side of the psychic conversation then?" It was a stab in the dark but really, it made sense. These kinds of links tended to be easier to work with when both parties were using them instead of one trying to speak a language it was debatable the other even understood. "It's possible that you are somehow subconsciously or instinctively accompanying your spoken responses with some form of response he can understand. It's not unheard of, but it tends to be imperfect compared to simply using the bond without the distraction of speech, at least in those I've used."

A small shrug from him as he looked from Sam to his bird.

"Of course this link could be entirely different and I'm completely off-base, but take the advice as you will."
suckstobestrange: (it cracks with a thundering voice)

[personal profile] suckstobestrange 2017-04-27 04:23 am (UTC)(link)
"You're pretty smart, I'm sure you'll get it." And really, for as short a time as he'd actually known the man, Stephen felt fairly sure in the assessment. Sam was intelligent and from what he'd seen? Adaptable which would be what determined how well he and his new friend got along in the end.

And it seemed he was starting now, Stephen nodding as he watched the process. It seemed to be working, it would just depend now on how complicated the communications could be before the bird couldn't understand the concepts. If that was something that could happen, assuming he was right about translations.

"At least he's trying to be nice. Beyond that it'll just be a matter of which is stronger- his reasoning ability, or his prey drive." Practical enough a consideration, no matter how unpleasant it might be. But if Sam kept on top of things, mousy genocide could be happily avoided. "I imagine if he's well-fed he'll be less inclined to go after them too."

Were there fireflies starting to come out? Maybe. Not like Stephen was paying the insect life much mind right now.
suckstobestrange: (on the seventh day you can lay)

[personal profile] suckstobestrange 2017-04-29 11:18 pm (UTC)(link)
"...I have to say upgrading armaments never ends well in my experience. Especially if it's debatable if the mice understand fire safety." Look his home insurance is...

Well if he had it anymore it would be expensive as hell. He's learned lots of really expensive lessons.

If he'd heard anything about the fireflies it didn't really register, he'd been too busy with research to pay much mind. Which meant he thought nothing of swatting away the one that landed on him and bit, frowning at the multi-colored insects with a raised brow,

"Sure, that sounds good." Even if he'd been considering bailing, if he was honest he did like the idea of settling for a bit with a drink. "Before these fireflies eat me alive."
suckstobestrange: (but oh my heart was flawed)

[personal profile] suckstobestrange 2017-04-30 01:39 am (UTC)(link)
"So assuming there's no religious uprising in their future, things should be fine then." To be honest this? Definitely made Stephen feel more at home. Weird is just his thing now, and normalcy just serves to make him feel unsettled. He followed Sam without protest for the moment, and even with the quiet, he made sure to check before settling on the couch. No need to accidentally crush a mouse or something, that would just be the cap on everything, wouldn't it?

"Been awhile since I've actually stopped for a breather. Kinda a nice change." ...Why had he said that out loud?
suckstobestrange: (it cracks with a thundering voice)

[personal profile] suckstobestrange 2017-05-01 12:19 am (UTC)(link)
A good three quarters of his life at any given time at least fell under the header 'totally incomprehensible' or 'just fucking weird' as a general rule.

Stephen accepted the beer with a murmured thanks, letting himself ease up just a little as things remained quiet.

"And then you've got those of us who see relaxation time and wonder just what's going to crop up to wreck everything this time." He took a long drink before he continued, in a wry tone. "Like Pavlov's Dog, except with quiet time triggering paranoia."

Or was that just him? It could be, he wouldn't be entirely surprised if that were the case.

suckstobestrange: (They say oh how the good die young)

[personal profile] suckstobestrange 2017-05-01 12:55 am (UTC)(link)
"It's almost like a universal constant back home. If things are quiet for an hour, something's going on. The longer things are quiet, the worse it is."

Stephen didn't seem too offended by the observation, just offering a small shrug as he tilted his head back against the cushion. It wasn't like Sam was wrong, after all.

"You're not wrong. But then I've kind of learned the hard way that not being paranoid tends to lead to some... bad results." A twist of his mouth into a grimace, because god damn when he says bad results? It's the understatement of the century.
suckstobestrange: (and all that you can save)

[personal profile] suckstobestrange 2017-05-01 01:12 am (UTC)(link)
"An other-dimensional Inquisition attacking, intent on destroying all magic, as well as torturing, maiming, and burning at the stake any magic users. They'd done it before in other dimensions, before anyone knew what was happening."

Look, Stephen wouldn't argue with something stronger to drink. Because he's fairly certain while he might give a basic explanation, he didn't know that it would be quite so much as this.

"They already destroyed thirteen other dimensions that I know of, I buried the Sorcerer Supremes of each one. I got pulled into this place in the middle of them trying to decide which of us Earth-born magic users to start the 'purification' with."

It explained just how much of a wreck he looked like when he first showed up, that much was for damn sure.
suckstobestrange: (In this graveyard of dreams)

[personal profile] suckstobestrange 2017-05-01 01:38 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh no. The dimensions themselves were intact... it might have been kinder if they did destroy them." Stephen was more than willing to set the beer aside for the moment in favor of the vodka Sam returns with, offering a faint, thin smile as he takes one of the glasses.

"It was fucking terrifying. Frustrating." He stared down at the vodka in his glass before draining about a quarter of it in one go, relishing the burn of the alcohol. "Exactly the sort of threat I should have seen coming."
suckstobestrange: (everything is dark)

[personal profile] suckstobestrange 2017-05-01 01:52 am (UTC)(link)
"With the right spell, sure. But the future is... mutable. You can cast the spell and just by seeing the future it could already be changed." He shook his head, grimace deepening a bit, though not at Sam, more at the situation he'd described. "But it's literally my job to protect magic, and by proxy the Earth and everything else from mystical threats. That's what a Sorcerer Supreme does."
suckstobestrange: (on the seventh day you can lay)

[personal profile] suckstobestrange 2017-05-01 02:13 am (UTC)(link)
"There were warning signs. If I'd looked into it more seriously then maybe the magic wouldn't be dead and we wouldn't be dying." Maybe. Or he might have been in the same damn situation. It was hard to say really. But good luck tellin Stephen that.

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