player-suggested mini-event: A STRANGER'S BED

[riverviewmod]

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: Player-Suggested Mini-Event
when: August 26th - August 31st
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

a stranger's bed

As a lead in to September, Riverview's ♥ Month of Romance, this is a completely optional mingle that will cause affected characters to end up in each other's beds. There are various options for both established and new CR. While it's easiest for characters still living in Communal Housing, anyone who has moved to their own homes can be affected and end up finding their way to Communal Housing, or within their own housing.

Residents of the Quarantine may notice that various businesses selling food and drink - cafés, diners, bakeries, restaurants, and other such establishments - are heavily advertising a new flavor that's supposed to be the biggest thing since pumpkin spice. A flavor additive that's said to subtly change the flavor of whatever the diner is eating or drinking to optimize the dish, drink, dessert, or any other food item it is added to for each person's individual taste, it's been selling like wildfire and is the latest trend.

After the cause of the rash of amnesia was revealed to be plant-related, sellers are keeping the origin of the secret ingredient very close to their chests, since it is a derivative of a recently-discovered plant dubbed chameleonis. Depending on the method of ingestion, this additive can have a variety of unexpected side effects, but only once the person who has ingested it becomes sleepy. Methods of ingestion include:

● Ingestion: Beverage: When ingested as a flavor shot to drinks ranging from sodas to coffee to alcoholic beverages, it can cause a desire for closeness to a particular other person. Affected characters end up crawling into bed with that specific other character when they become sleepy.

● Ingestion: Food: When ingested as a flavoring added to a baked good or other meal, it can cause an intense desire for body heat when the character becomes drowsy. It won't matter to an affected character who is providing the body heat, so long as it's someone, and they will end up sleepily crawling into someone else's bed for warmth.

● Inhalation: When inhaled ether from a steaming hot beverage or soup, or as an essential oil or aroma from a bakery, it can cause disorientation when a character becomes sleepy. Affected characters either aren't sure which bed is theirs and simply crawl into the closest one, occupied or not, or become convinced that another character's bed is their own.

Feel free to post up a top-level for your own character either affected and invading a random bed or unaffected but open to having their bed invaded by affected characters, or tag around to other people's top-levels.

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Sam Wilson | closed

[wingedman]

[Keeping this to planned interactions, but let me know if you want to plot something!]

616 Stephen

[wingedman]

[Sometime in the middle of the night, Sam feels a weight settle on his mattress. There's no sign of alarm from either Jareth or the mice he knows are somewhere in the shadows, so he doesn't quite wake up fully. Instead, he shifts and settles around the body, sighing with contentment. He reaches up to confirm his suspicion - although he doesn't know who else would get into his house at this time of night - and his fingers meet with the bristle of facial hair. Reassured, he buries his face in Stephen's shoulder and surrenders to sleep once more.]

[suckstobestrange]

[When they did wind up sharing a bed typically Stephen was content to just curl against Sam. Maybe fling an arm over him if he was feeling especially affectionate, but tending to leave the cuddly stuff to the other man.

This time however, he wasted little time once Sam seemed to accept his presence in slipping both arms around him to draw him in close, even hooking an ankle casually around one of Sam's as if that would just keep him cuddled in closer before he was slipping off himself, into a sleep that was thankfully dreamless.]

[wingedman]

[If he were more awake, Sam might realize how unusual this is - he knows, of course, has spent enough time nestled against Stephen to know that he's far more tactile than the other man, but it's not something his conscious mind is processing just now. Instead, he's content to just enjoy the unexpected cuddling (because that's totally what it is, deal with it, Stephen).

There's only one problem: while Stephen's sleep might be dreamless, Sam's isn't. A few hours after Stephen's arrival, Sam awakes with a start. It's one of his quieter episodes, thankfully, but that's about all that's to be said for it. He still finds himself tense and frozen in the other man's embrace, staring up at the ceiling as he tries to get his frantic breathing and pounding heart back under control. He can only hope he hasn't accidentally disturbed Wanda's sleep; he knows that sort of thing is all too possible with her. As for Stephen- well. He'll deal with that when he has to. Which definitely isn't right now, judging by the way his fingers clench the blanket.]

[suckstobestrange]

[He didn't entirely eschew cuddling, but it tended more towards just an arm flung over Sam in sleep, instead of the full-on clinging that seemed to be happening now.

Which of course meant that he was aware of the sudden shift in Sam, brows furrowing at the tension in the body he was nestled against, that quiet start enough to draw him from sleep, at least partly.]

...Sam? [Voice muzzy with sleep still, Stephen didn't budge, other than a scarred hand smoothing over the skin under his palm.]

[wingedman]

I'm fine.

[Sam grits the words out between clenched teeth, very obviously Not Fine. As much as instinct tells him to pull away from Stephen, he doesn't want to disturb his sleep even more than he already has - and he's not sure he could move right now, anyway.]

[suckstobestrange]

[Stephen couldn't help the little snort at that response, not budging but a brow lifting as he considered his companion.]

Would you let me get away with 'I'm fine' in this situation? [He's onto you.]

[wingedman]

I was hoping you might.

[It does, after all, come perilously close to talking about Feelings, and he knows Stephen's avoidance of that.

Sam sucks in another breath and lets it out slowly, his body shuddering.]

Sometimes I have bad dreams. About Afghanistan.

[suckstobestrange]

I'd say sorry but we both know that's a lie.

[But at the same time that is not a fun admission, Stephen's hand stilling over Sam's chest momentarily at the shudder.]

Is there anything that helps?

[Because like fuck is he leaving Sam to suffer that alone.]

[wingedman]

Time.

[This time, he manages a one-shouldered shrug. He's sure Stephen knows about this kind of thing just as well as he does.]

Eight years ago, I would've been curled up on the bathroom floor. I could barely function after I came back home. Picked myself up, got a whole lot of therapy, and here we are today. But it never really heals, you know?

[A pause, and then:] I goddamn hate sand.

[suckstobestrange]

Yeah.

[Stephen didn't care for this. Didn't like that something was bothering Sam that he couldn't really fix no matter how he wanted to. He couldn't do this for the man, it had to be something Sam did for himself as much as it galled Stephen.]

Well you've got open invitation to show up at the Sanctum. [Not specifying why, knowing Sam would understand the intent. For those evenings when his own company was just too much and he needed another person in the room even if all they did was sleep.]

Look I'm fairly certain hatred of sand is universal.

[wingedman]

Thanks.

[He manages to relax enough to pillow his head on Stephen's shoulder, rearranging the covers a little.]

I can't go to the beach. The sand would get everywhere - I had to strip the jetpack down once, twice a week, clean everything out, put it back together. I could do it in my sleep if I had to. It'd get into the cracks in my gear, flay my skin raw when I flew. Had to keep going up even when my skin was cracked and bleeding.

Jessica

[wingedman]

[Though Sam's familiar enough with the communal housing, having lived there for almost a month before seeking private housing, he's never been in one of the single-person bedrooms. So there's no way he's gotten confused about- well, anything, he's pretty sure. He doesn't even know anyone who has a private bedroom.

And he definitely doesn't know the woman he wakes up curled against, although all he can see is a tangle of dark hair.

Ordinarily this might bother him, but right now, he's too damn comfortable to worry about it, and all he does is make a small noise as he burrows closer to her under the blankets. Maybe he doesn't know who she is, but she's warm, and that seems to be all that matters to his brain.]

MCU Steve

[wingedman]

[It's pretty normal for Steve to come over for dinner and a movie, and Sam doesn't think twice about sprinkling some of the new flavor into the dessert he's making - apple dumplings. They both eat a decent-sized helping, piled high with ice cream, and then settle in for the DVDs Sam's picked up. There are so many different movies from other universes that Sam just sort of randomly picks and chooses, usually trying to find the weirdest things he can.

Except tonight, thanks to someone's pre-dawn workout routine, Sam finds himself getting drowsy in the middle of one of the movies. He yawns, stretches out, and from that point, it only seems natural to pillow his head on Steve's shoulder.]

[ikols]

[ There's a crash and a curse somewhere on the floor next to the bed when Loki teleports, not for the first time lately, into a bedroom very much not his own. His head peeps over the edge and bloodshot eyes squint at the occupant, trying to determine whether it's worth staying or if his wobbly legs can handle another round with gravity.

He hiccups, trying to muffle the sound on blankets. ]

[wingedman]

[White-feathered wings rustle from a perch in the corner and there's a "kak kak kak" noise of alarm before it's cut off, presumably because Sam's told him to shut up before he wakes Wanda (or, worse, the mice). Sam squints blearily back at the head peering at him, wrinkles his nose at the smell of booze, but moves over enough to make room for another person in the bed without comment, tugs the covers back to let him in.]

[ikols]

[ With that as an invitation, Loki rolls into a heap beside Sam and curls up, facing away. He'll take advantage of that kindness he doesn't deserve and nap here, thank you. ]

[wingedman]

[Sam tucks the blanket in around Loki, then rolls onto his stomach, draping an arm over him. While he's not going to engage full octopus mode, he always likes a bit of contact when he's sharing the bed with someone.

Except then he feels how cold Loki is under his arm, and in his half-asleep state, the only solution is to wriggle closer to him and attempt to share some of his body heat. He's not quite spooning him, but it's close.]

[ikols]

[ The warmth is easy to sink into, the arm moreso. Loki eases back into Sam's arms and his breathing deepens, evening out while leeching bodyheat. ]

[wingedman]

[When morning comes, Sam stretches and eyes the sleeping form in his bed. Do Asgardians get hangovers? Probably not from mortal booze, he guesses. He's nestled comfortably against Loki, and since his alarm hasn't gone off yet - and since his phone, thankfully, hasn't exploded with texts from Steve - he stays where he is for a few more minutes, eyelids fluttering shut again as he dozes. He's used to an entirely different dark-haired sorcerer in his bed in the morning, but he's not gonna complain. Platonic cuddles are nice, too.

But eventually he stirs again, and this time he rouses enough to speak.]

Shouldn't teleport while drunk. You might splinch yourself.

[...consider yourself lucky, Loki. Stephen's caught the brunt of the Harry Potter jokes till now.]

[ikols]

That's not a thing.

[ Yes, he's awake. Reluctantly. More enthusiasm is decidedly put into remaining a bedbug with the covers pulled up past his ears. ]

[wingedman]

I don't think J.K. would lie to me, Loki.

[It's okay, Loki, Sam isn't moving, either. He's awake, but he's nice and toasty and comfortable where he is. He's happy to just enjoy the moment of laziness.]

[ikols]

She's a sneaky Hufflepuff ...

[ Squirming around, Loki pushes his forehead against Sam's warm shoulder. ]

[wingedman]

Are Hufflepuffs allowed to be sneaky?

[Sam idly cards the fingers of one hand through Loki's hair.]

[ikols]

[ Does Sam expect an answer after he starts stroking Loki's hair? Because he just disabled a god in one move and made him start snoring. ]