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Hey there, everyone. My name is Steve Rogers and I'm one of the people most recently summoned to the Free Cities. I'm also a good friend of Sam Wilson's — we've worked together for a number of years. I know he's made quite the name for himself here.

I've only been here for a little over a month, but in that time I've noticed a sudden increase in military activity within Cadens. There's increased drills and training exercises, equipment moving in and out, that kind of thing. I went by Fort Wilbridge and tried to ask some questions, but all they really had to say was that they were acting out of an abundance of caution. Almost like they're expecting something.

It seems suspicious, so I was wondering if anyone else has noticed a change in how the factions are behaving, whether it's something I haven't picked up on in Cadens or something going on in Thorne or Solvunn. I figure it might be a good idea to compare notes so we won't be completely blindsided if something else is coming our way.

That's all I've got for now, but it's nice to meet you all. In a manner of speaking, anyway.

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SHOULD BE EASY ENOUGH TO GET DIRECTIONS
MAG’S SOMETHING OF A STAPLE AROUND THE CITY

YEAH- MAG’LL BE AT THE BAR
JUST TELL HER YOURE LOOKING FOR ME AND SHELL SEND YOU UP

Okay.

I don't think I'm very far so I'll see you in a little while.
I'll be there soon.

I'LL BE HERE

[ he doesn't really have a choice ]

( as promised, it doesn't take matt too long to get back to the inn. when he asks about sam, he's directed upstairs to sam's room. he sticks close to the wall, one hand skimming across it while he counts doors in his head. when his knuckles slide across what he's fairly certain is sam's door, he stops and knocks.

he can hear someone inside, moving around, breathing, but that's about all there is to hear so he waits patiently. )

[ sam is indeed moving inside, but it's slow, jerky movements. he's still exhausted, still working up his stamina and his energy, and the truth of the matter is: he probably shouldn't be out of bed at all. but the mention to matt, to the fact someone would be coming inside, it caused a minor surge of energy (or, if you know sam well enough, he'd say that his mother just fully possessed his body) to clean and pick up.

the room is very obviously a sick room, though there are fresh flowers, an open window, and a sincere lack of depression about it. sam's not dying, though he has been weak and he is still frustrated about it.

all this to say, sam had just finished tucking some of the bottles and salves and concoctions that nadine brings to him away when the knock comes at the door. he looks up, half expecting him to just walk right in, before he remembers that he and matt haven't actually met yet, so he calls out, settling back on the bed. ]

Door's open!

( with permission given, matt opens the door and steps into the room. it's pretty easy for someone with his abilities to smell the salves and anesthetics that had been used recently. he can't really pick up on the exacts of why but he can guess that sam must be injured. )

Hey, I'm Matt.

( not just someone barging into the room like an unwelcome visitor. )

Smells like a hospital room would. You sure you're up for a visitor?

[ and in turn, it doesn't take much for sam to put together a few important pieces of who matt is, too. the fact that he's blind, yes, but even more than that, the fact that it is not a new thing. there's a confidence in his movements, in how he steos into the room and pauses, adjusts.

sam laughs, leaning back into the bed and getting comfortable, though it does take some effort. ]

Yeah, well, got myself into some shit out in the desert. I'm fine, just not as quick to bounce back as I used to be. Come on in. [ sam doesn't bother gesturing for the chair next to the bed, but also finds himself vaguely uncertain of how to even bring it up. how helpful is crossing boundaries?

so sam decides just not to bring it up. ]

Believe me, you're doing me a favor. I need something to focus on or I'll go insane. I think there are some snacks around here if you're hungry?

I'm good.

( he waves off sam's offer of food before he steps further into the room, following sam's voice until he's closer to the bed. he stops though, still allowing some distance. )

I've heard a bit about the desert already. Mind if I ask why you went out there?

There's a chair there, by the way. 'bout three feet to your left.

[ because of course sam is going to offer for matt to take a load off. they've got a lot of ground to cover today, after all.

the question about the desert has sam pausing for a second, as if waiting for some follow-up question, before he huffs a kind of laugh. there is a moment where sam considers just where he wants to draw the line of truthfulness. ]

Went out with a friend of mine - he goes hunting pretty often, but these last few months I've been sticking to the city. With a contested area of land out there and the way tensions have been growing between Thorne and the Cities, I figured it was worth having a look. Didn't exactly plan for the Singularity to go haywire while we were camping, but oh well. [ not a lie by any means, but also not entirely the truth, either. ]

The Singularity went haywire?

( matt nods his gratitude at the instructions to find the seat and reaches out, hands brushing against the arms. he folds himself into the seat, legs stretched out in front of him and he tilts his head in sam's direction, thoughtful. )

I've been learning as much as I can about the Singularity but I haven't heard anyone else telling me it can go haywire, whatever that means. What'd it do?

[ sam watches for a moment just to make sure matt finds and settles in the chair, but once he does, some part of him seems to relax a little. it lets him take a breath before he starts. ]

If you've been looking into it, you've probably got it figured out by now just how powerful it is. There's a kind of energy that comes out of that thing- they say it's what brings us all here, what powers all the magic of this place, and probably a lot more. [ there's an odd sort of tone to sam's words - like he's going into a bit of a teacher mode. or like he's had this speech in its various forms a few times. ]

We do know for sure it had a direct connection to all of us Summoned, and it has this tendency to...well, go haywire is kind of the best way to phrase it. It can make us see things, experience dreams from other people- hell, it's what lets us into the Horizon in the first place, and some shit goes down there. [ sam rubs a hand across the back of his neck - more for himself than anything else. ] Thorne, the other faction, has spent centuries studying the thing, but ever since we first showed up, every few months or so something kind of goes weird.

We don't know if that weird is because of us being here, or if we're just seeing symptoms of a larger problem. Thorne things something is wrong with the Singularity and that we're the only people that can fix it, it's why they brought us here in the first place, but. [ a shrug. ] Thing shave gotten sort of complicated since then.

Sort of complicated.

( he repeats that with a quiet laugh and then shakes his head. yeah, he thinks that's putting it lightly. he hasn't been here all that long but he still knows that things are complicated and getting more and more so. )

You mean the whole possibility of war, right? Between the different regions? Factions, I guess.

( seems like the summoned and the singularity were going to be a thing to fight about and soon. )

[ at matt's quiet laugh, sam feels a kind of tired smile spread at his mouth. yeah, yeah, alright, he gets how insane that sounds. especially considering...everything. ]

War, yeah, but you're also talking about an entire collection of us who are - as far as these people concerned - walking sources of power. Soldiers, if you believe the stuff they're saying at the barracks.

[ sam sighs, shakes his head, rubs at the back of his neck. there's a kind of exhaustion to him that matt might recognize - bone deep, unending. ]

We've been able to stay out of it for the most part, but there's no telling how long that'll last.

From what I know about power and people with power, it won't be long.

( if there were powerful pieces on the chessboard, they would either be taken out of they would be used to conquer the other side.

neither one of those options really sits well with him. he makes a face, shakes his head. )

I'm surprised that it hasn't happened before now even.

No, it won't. But that doesn't mean we can't hold it off as long as possible.

[ sam thinks back on the previous dimming, the way the factions were already able to pit the summoned against each other. the power in which they were able to tear each other apart. he's been working as much as he can to keep it from that exactly outcome, and yet he can feel it slipping by each day. ]

There were moments it almost did, but there's a few of us trying real hard to hold it off just a bit longer; and it's not like the factions aren't trying. There was a Peace Summit not that long ago. It ended about as well as you'd think, but they did try.

[ against all odds, sam is going to hold out for that - the hope we can do better. this might be on a scale too large for him to handle on his own, but that's not going to stop him from trying. ]

Trying is more than a lot of people do. Hard to get peace when you have a bunch of differing opinions and everyone wants to be heard.

( not that matt had been at the peace summit but he can imagine how it had gone. people play nice but there's never anything solid to it.

unfortunately. )

Odds of them trying again?

For peace? Unlikely anytime soon. We've got a better chance of diverting attention, unless some major international crisis goes down and they realize they gotta band together.

[ sam sighs, shakes his head. ]

But if you've got any grand ideas, I'm all ears. Politics and all that of foreign nations is a little out of my wheelhouse. [ or at least, he wishes, but the whole captain America things makes all that a little more complicated. not that matt needs to get into that. ]

Not really mine either.

( he left that to the...well, avengers and everyone. he tended to deal with street level and maybe a little higher. )

Furthest I ever got with politic was being voted class treasurer years and years and years ago. Didn't do my best job then.

[ sam sighs and shakes his head, as if he might have been vaguely hoping, but also isn't that surprised. no one really wants to be good at politics, do they? the people who are generally tend to find themselves there, rather than really diving in. ]

My advice is to try and stay out of it, then, if you can. Marlo's been nice enough, but she has her own skeletons and secrets we're not even totally sure of yet. But any city with a big enough military presence is kind of like walking on land mines. Just- watch your back. Don't trust anything they tell you. I know it seems a little obvious, but just in case it wasn't.

You don't really have to tell me twice to stay out of politics. I'm not looking to get involved.

( he wants to help but he doesn't want to get involved that deeply, not when his strengths were better put to use elsewhere.

so, he's going to have no problem taking sam's advice. )

And don't worry, not really the trusting sort for most people.

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